Despite the deployment of 100,000 Japanese troops and more than 500 foreign rescue specialists, the relief operation is being hampered by the damage done to the country’s transport infrastructure, with roads, rail, ports and power lines crippled across much of the disaster region.
On February 2, the Institution Recycling Network (IRN) shipped a 15,000 pound load of relief supplies, including 120 mattresses from Brown University, medical supplies from New England Baptist Hospital, and more than 2,500 liters of bottled water from Max’s Blues Café in Brockton, MA.