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Sweden to evacuate citizens from Japan

The Swedish foreign ministry has offered to fly Swedes and other Scandinavians wishing to leave Japan out of the country via Bangkok.

Published: 18 March 2011 07:21 CET

Sweden to evacuate citizens from Japan

The ministry has arranged for two extra airplanes to depart from Tokyo to the Thai capital, with the first plane set to depart on Friday evening and a second scheduled to leave on Saturday morning.

“There aren’t many options for leaving, that’s why we’re helping with extra planes,” foreign ministry spokesperson Tobias Nilsson told the TT news agency.

According to foreign ministry estimates, there are no more than 2,000 Swedes in Japan, although it remains unclear how many of them might be interested in the extra flights arranged by the ministry.

“We hope it’s enough but it’s hard to know of it’s too little or too much,” said Nilsson.

If the need ends up being greater than expected, the foreign ministry will review options for additional measures.

Swedes interested in booking a spot on the flights have been instructed to contact the Swedish embassy in Tokyo.

Those who choose to take the flights will be expected to pay their own way.

The decision to evacuate, made late Thursday evening Swedish time, came after the foreign ministry had extended its warning against “non-essential” travel to cover all of Japan.

Furthermore the ministry recommends that all those within a 80 kilometre radius of the Fukushima nuclear power plant should leave the area.

“It’s not a pointed demand to leave the country, but a request for people to take stock of their situation,” foreign ministry spokesperson Cecilia Juhlin told TT.

In addition, Ikea has also offered all of its foreign employees in Japan to leave the country and travel to Hong Kong with their families.

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Turkish community in Germany gathers to help earthquake victims

In dozens of cities in Germany, donations are being collected for victims of the massive earthquake, which as of Wednesday afternoon had claimed more than 11,000 lives.

People are bringing tent stoves, flashlights, diapers, fleece blankets, and hand warmers. One of the many collection points has been organized by the German-Turkish care service Dosteli in Berlin.

At the governmental level, Germany — home to about three million people of Turkish origin — will” mobilise all the assistance we can activate”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a call with Erdogan and sent his “deep condolences”, as a search and rescue team left Tuesday afternoon with 50 rescuers and equipment.

The EU said it was “funding humanitarian organisations that are carrying out search and rescue operations” in Syria as well as providing water and sanitation support and distributing blankets.

Charities line up to help

Particularly in Berlin, where over eight percent of the population is of Turkish origin, people have lined up down streets to drop off supplies. But they have led large donation efforts in cities like Frankfurt and Hamburg, where several businesses like bars set aside space to collect supplies,

The Dostali team had been sorting clothes and hygiene items all night, packing them and loading them into trucks. “Almost the entire Turkish diaspora in Berlin was there,” one volunteer told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)

The helpers organized themselves via appeals in social media. From the collection points, the donations are to be transported by trucks and planes to the affected regions.

READ ALSO: Who are Germany’s foreign population and where do they live?

In response to an inquiry from the FAZ, Turkish Airlines confirmed that it was delivering donations from 14 countries to the Turkish crisis areas, Germany being one of them.

The Turkish community in Germany is well connected via social media – “and everyone wants to help,” said Kübra Oguz, a volunteer with the Puduhepa e.V., initiative founded by Turkish migrant women.

In order for this to happen in a targeted manner, she recommended directly donating money, which could then be funneled to buy food, hygiene products or shoes, depending on the need.

Several organisations in Germany and worldwide are also accepting donations for humanitarian aid, include UNICEF, Save the Children and Aktion Deutschland Hilft.

With reporting from AFP.

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