Japan: Aid by Employees for the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake Victims and the Disaster-stricken Areas

Lifelines have been restored and temporary housing set up in the areas affected by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake that occurred on January 1, 2024, but the houses of the victims remain destroyed and ongoing aid is needed. This article describes initiatives implemented by the PEX Corporate Citizenship Department for employees to give aid to the disaster-stricken areas.

■First donation from employee benefit program Cafeteria Points

The first round of donations from Cafeteria Points to aid victims of the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake started on February 1 and finished on March 20, collecting 2,438,000 yen from 780 contributions. We thank everyone who made an effort to help. The collected funds were given to the authorized NPO Japan Heart at the end of April for aid according to the needs of the disaster-stricken areas, such as support to the evacuation areas, dispatching medical teams to them, and providing supplies. The second round of donations will continue to June 30; those still with points remaining from FY2023 can make good use of them in this campaign. We hope you can play a part in this effort.

Japan Heart, to which the donations will go, sent a medical team to the area immediately after the disaster occurred, and has been helping to provide supplies and so forth. A member of this organization was invited to give an after-work lecture on Tuesday, May 21, to employees about front-line efforts for aid to the disaster-stricken areas, with the theme of "Creating Systems Needed by Society--Emergency Aid by Japan Heart for the Noto Peninsula Earthquake."

■Volunteer employee efforts in the disaster-stricken areas

Thirteen Panasonic Group employees joined volunteers supporting administration of disaster volunteer centers in Suzu City and Nanao City in Ishikawa Prefecture from Thursday, April 25, to Sunday, April 28. This effort was organized by the Disaster Volunteer Activity Support Project Council to accept many volunteers over the vacation period from April 27 to May 6. It called on member companies of the Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) to take part. The Panasonic Group participated in the first call (April 25 to 28) with an advance contingent, helping to pass the baton of support to subsequent companies.

Recovery efforts in the Oku Noto area are being delayed by a lack of support workers due to factors such as transportation conditions, so action by large numbers of volunteers in this region over the vacation period was hoped for. The disaster volunteer centers accepting these large numbers of supporters needed reinforcement to deal with this influx.

The 13 members from the Panasonic Group worked with locally active staff to support volunteers working on locations affected by the disaster, including preparations to accept and orient them and procedures to receive waste.

We sincerely hope for the rapid recovery of the disaster-stricken areas and hope for further cooperation from employees to help support this recovery.