2024-01-12 05:30:00
◆Depart by kitchen car
Kurdish volunteers set out in a kitchen truck loaded with food to help with the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture.
To support the areas affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake, Kurdish people working at kebab restaurants in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo provided hot kebabs and soup to victims in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture. On the 9th, we left Kawaguchi City in a kitchen car and two wagons. After distributing 5,000 servings of kebabs and other items in Suzu City, they headed back home on the night of the 11th.
Kurds are an ethnic minority living in Türkiye and other countries. They are persecuted in Turkey, and regarding 2,000 people live in Kawaguchi City and other areas. The devastating earthquake in Turkey in February last year caused significant damage to areas where many Kurds live, and aid was also received from Japan. The Kurds offered assistance, saying, “We want to repay them for helping their homeland.”
◆ Warm soup and underwear too
Approximately 10 people who work at “Happy Kebab” in Kawaguchi City and “Arasu Kebab” in Ueno Ameyoko, Tokyo, participated. It took regarding 11 hours to reach the site, and while sleeping in the car, we visited five evacuation centers including a gymnasium in Suzu City, and cooked kebab sandwiches, soup called “chorba” for 1,000 people, and 100 kg of rice. It was provided free of charge. We also handed out cold-weather underwear and body warmers.
Kurdish people handing out kebabs and other items cooked in a kitchen truck to disaster victims (in Suzu City, provided by Aras Kebab staff)
According to Ishikawa Prefecture, it has not yet allowed publicly recruited volunteers to enter the disaster area, but it has allowed organizations such as Peace Boat, which have experience in disaster relief, to enter the disaster area, and the Kurdish people worked under the coordination of Peace Boat.
“When I saw the damage spread, I felt like I had to go,” said Tashi Tifiki, 32, the representative of Happy Kebab. Sayaka Oshio from Peace Boat said, “Everyone was very happy with the freshly made kebabs, as they rarely have access to hot food at the evacuation center.” (Shinichi Ikeo)
Kurdish people handing out kebabs cooked in a kitchen truck to disaster victims in Suzu city (provided by Aras Kebab staff)
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