Sending aid

With a death toll that some speculate could reach 10,000, Art Stephenson says he had to do something to help the relief effort s in Japan.

The 76-year-old retired teacher and former volunteer firefighter donated to the relief effort at the Thunder Bay Canadian Red Cross Society on Tuesday.

"When you look at the images coming back from Japan, they need all the help they can get," Stephenson said. "It’s devastating and you hope they can recover but things just keep happening."

The country is still trying to clean up the disaster that a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and Tsunami left in Japan late last week. The earthquake also critically damaged some of Japan’s nuclear power plants. One crippled plant exploded on Tuesday and released dangerous amounts of radiation.

With the Pacific Ocean as a divider, Stephenson said distance didn’t matter. When someone is in trouble you need to help them.

"We’re so fortunate here in Canada and in Thunder Bay," he said, "When you look at some of the struggles of other people you realize that we should be sharing. If something like that happened in Canada, (the Japanese) would be the first to step forward and give assistance and help."

The Canadian Red Cross began its relief effort in conjunction with the Red Cross in Japan. As of Tuesday, the local Red Cross raised more than $35,000. Two $1,000 donations were given on Monday.

Ken Widdifield, disaster management co-ordinator for the Thunder Bay Red Cross, said they wanted to raise as much as possible to help out with the relief and added residents could phone or come to the Red Cross building on Barton Street to drop off a donation.

"Donations have been going very well," Widdifield said. "The generosity of Thunder Bay is shining through as usual. This disaster is beyond the scale that most of us could ever comprehend and it is going to take a phenomenal amount of resources in order to bring the country back to some semblance of normalcy."

With the situation constantly changing in Japan, he said it was difficult to know how many people the Red Cross could actually help and what their needs are.

The International Committee of the Red Cross launched a website dedicated to help locate missing relatives or friends.

Residents can donate in person or call 623-3073 or toll free at 1-800-418-1111 or text ASIA to 30333.