“This book is less about the overall response and instead is a story of a relationship that started during ‘Operation Tomodachi’ …between Oshima, a relatively small, isolated island… and the United States Marines…”
Written by GRMF Board of Advisor’s Dr. Robert Eldridge, a HADR and Disaster response/mitigation expert and formerly the Political Advisor, Forward Command Element, U.S. Forces Japan, traces the U.S. Marine Corps' Involvement in “Operation Tomodachi.” This was the American response to the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (i.e. Fukushima), describing in detail the people, events, and actions at the time. The book also examines the post-recovery expansion of the relationships with the affected communities, especially the island of Oshima, Kesennuma City, in the Miyagi Prefecture. Dr. Eldridge emphasizes the "No Better Friend" side of the U.S. Marine Corps.