ATAMI, Shizuoka -- Employees of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, have been overwhelmed with a massive amount of relief supplies arriving from all over Japan. Although they are finding it hard to keep up with sorting and distributing the items, they say evacuees who are staying in local hotels already have sufficient food and water.
"We are very grateful for the support, but we prefer monetary donations more than goods," a city official said.
A truck carrying 100 bags of rice and 200 cases of drinking water arrived at the Atami city office on Friday morning.
"We can't accept them right now, so please give us some time," a city official said apologetically to a man delivering the supplies.
The city office is currently stockpiling supplies, including drinking water, sanitary products and masks, in two places, including a conference room in the office building. About 10 employees take turns working nearly nonstop sorting the supplies, according to the city government.
Affected residents initially evacuated to nearby schools, but now nearly 600 people are staying at two tourist hotels in the city. Food and basic necessities are already being provided, officials said.
The city government had no choice but to suspend the distribution of relief supplies and has also temporarily stopped accepting them.
"Unnecessary things are being delivered as support," an official said. "We are soon going to start cleaning up damaged houses. Let us request that you supply what we need then, when we get to the next phase."
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