Ten Nagano Prefecture residents sent a letter of appreciation and 125 cellphone strings with hand-folded paper cranes to the Korean government on April 13 to express appreciation to the Korean rescue team (105 team members and 2 officials from MOFAT's Humanitarian Assistance Division), who devotedly conducted search and rescue operations following the March 11 earthquake in Japan.
The Korean rescue team, sent to Japan on March 12 and 14, was dedicated in conducting search and rescue operations under unfavorable circumstances including snowstorms and rainstorms in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, one of the hardest-hit areas. It was the first foreign rescue team dispatched to Japan and the last one to leave the country.
The Nagano Prefecture residents who sent the cellphone strings, mainly the elderly, said that they were deeply moved by the dedicated activities of the Korean rescue team, who took risks to help the Japanese people in despair in the wake of the earthquake. They also said that they had made the cellphone strings with paper cranes attached to express gratitude. ※ The Korean rescue team is the only team that the Nagano Prefecture residents have sent the cellphone strings to express appreciation.
