In an old post, I wrote “charity is not only for other people”. Please read the old post for the story of Tohoku (North-East Japan) and the town of Hakone. To make a long story short, the town of Hakone decided to help Tohoku because they know that they will need help from other regions in the future. If you need help (or even if you don’t need help), it’s better to help other people.
According to this Japanese internet article, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces sent a team of medical professionals to the Philippines. Many of the members are from Tohoku, the region that the earthquake and tsunami hit on May 11, 2011. The chief of the medical team said that they want to help the survivors from the viewpoint of sufferers using their experience. They know what it is like to be helped by other people after a horrible natural disaster. They help people because they have been helped by other people. I am proud of their 東北魂 (North-East Japan spirit).
As I wrote in another previous post, many people help each other when they suffer natural disaster. As I wrote “many people”, not “everyone” acts like that during and after natural disaster. But I still want to believe helping each other is the nature of human beings.