The Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) announced March 22 that San Francisco Bay Area viewers and community members donated more than $417,000 to the Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund during the NBC Bay Area Telethon held March 18.

Members from the Nikkei and local community volunteered to assist with answering phone calls.

The Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund has thus far raised close to $700,000 through online donations via www.causes.com, and from individuals, businesses and organizations.

According to the JCCCNC, one hundred percent of the funds the JCCCNC receives will go directly toward aiding survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region of Japan. Donations will be made to citizen relief efforts through the National YMCAs of Japan and other non-governmental organizations with whom the JCCCNC partnered in 1995 in delivering relief efforts following the Kobe earthquake.

The JCCCNC said that all of these agencies have agreed that administrative fees will not be taken to enable the donations to benefit “those who need it most.”

Funds that have already been sent will support two temporary shelters and three child care centers in the affected areas.

The Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund will follow a three-fold plan over the next several months, to provide: relief (immediate life-saving and survival needs), recovery (sustainability, temporary shelters, post traumatic stress counseling, supplies for survivors) and rebuilding (community and neighborhood capital and improvement projects and programs).

The Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund is part of a larger coordinated earthquake and tsunami relief response from the Japanese American community throughout the Bay Area.

People may make donations by calling the direct relief fund line — to support survivors of the earthquake and tsunami at (415) 529-1322. Checks may be made out to the Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund and sent to the JCCCNC at 1840 Sutter St. San Francisco, CA 94115. Donations may be made online at www.jcccnc.org.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donations made to the JCCCNC are tax deductible to the extent of the law.