FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 12, 2010

Contact: Joy Portella, 206.437.7885, jportella@sea.mercycorps.org

Lindsay Murphy, 415.310.8413, lmurphy@mercycorps.org

Mercy Corps and Peace Winds Respond to Needs in Japan’s Devastated

Earthquake Zone

PORTLAND, Ore. – The global humanitarian agency Mercy Corps is responding to

yesterday’s powerful 8.9 magnitude Sendai earthquake in Japan. Mercy Corps is working
with its long-time partner agency Peace Winds, which is rushing teams into the quake zone,
and putting members of its own emergency response team on high alert to provide support.
Immediate concerns are food, shelter and clean water for survivors.

“Working with our partner Peace Winds, Mercy Corps is moving quickly to address the most
pressing needs in the earthquake zone,” said Mercy Corps CEO Neal Keny-Guyer. “This kind
of enormous disaster is overwhelming, even for a well-prepared country like Japan. With
Peace Winds’ Japanese base and global reach, as well as Mercy Corps’ expertise responding
to disasters around the world, we are ideally positioned to assist the Japanese people.”

Two teams of Peace Winds expert responders are en route via road and air to the disaster zone
in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture of northeast Japan. Working with corporate and government
partners, they plan to provide balloon shelters, which can accommodate up to 600 people,
large emergency tents, water, food and blankets. They will continue to watch and respond to
needs on the ground in the coming days.

In addition, Mercy Corps emergency responders in the region stand at the ready to support
Peace Winds’ efforts. The number one priority for the partner organizations is to assess and
help fill immediate needs for life-saving basics like shelter, food and clean water. In the
longer term, the partners aim to help earthquake-affected families rebuild their lives.

Mercy Corps is already taking steps to make its Comfort for Kids signature program available
in Japan. Comfort for Kids has provided post-trauma assistance to children and caregivers in
settings as diverse as New York City after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Sichuan Province of
China after 2008’s powerful earthquake, and most recently, the earthquake zone of Haiti.

Mercy Corps and Peace Winds have worked together to respond to disasters numerous times
over the past decade. The two organizations cooperatively provided humanitarian assistance
to families in war-torn northern Iraq and Afghanistan, and in the US Gulf Coast after
Hurricane Katrina. They also jointly responded to 2003’s massive earthquake in Bam, Iran,
which required a large-scale and complicated logistical operation.
According to Japanese news reports, this week’s Sendai earthquake and subsequent tsunami
have killed between 1,300 and 1,700 people, and thousands more are missing. The twin
disasters forced the evacuation of 300,000 people. The 8.9 quake struck on Friday about 250
miles from Tokyo, and is the strongest earthquake to hit Japan in at least 100 years.

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps helps people turn the crises they confront into the opportunities they deserve. Driven by local
needs, our programs provide communities in the world’s toughest places with the tools and support they need to
transform their own lives. Our worldwide team in 36 countries is improving the lives of 19 million people. For
more information, see mercycorps.org.

About Peace Winds

Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), dedicated to the support of people in
distress, threatened by conflict, poverty, or other turmoil. With its headquarters in Japan, PWJ has been active
in various parts of the world. www.peace-winds.org/en.