Japan Earthquakes – How to Help

On April 14, an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 6.4 hit the central Kumamoto area of Kyushu, Japan, followed just a few days later by another 7.3 magnitude quake in the same area, causing deaths, injury and widespread damage to the area’s residences and infrastructure.

As aftershocks continue, tens of thousands of people have moved into evacuation centers. The Japanese media continues to report of more than 62,000 homes that remain without electricity and 250,000 homes that have no water. Troops are still conducting search and rescue operations.

Where to go and how to help:

Evacuee Services

Kumamoto International Center is offering shelter to non-Japanese residents, plus multilingual translation assistance.
Kumamoto International Center
4-18, Hanabatacho, in Kumamoto city
Tel.: 096-359-2121
Website (English): http://www.kumamoto-if.or.jp/kcic/default_e.asp

Free emergency WiFi

NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp. have activated emergency public WiFi hot spots in Kumamoto Prefecture.

The WiFi access point is named “00000JAPAN” and is available free of charge regardless of a person’s existing phone carrier.

Financial donations

Officials in Kumamoto have asked people not to send items, but appreciate cash donations to organisations that are on the ground helping. Multiple charities are calling for support for the survivors of the earthquakes. All donations will support recovery and relief efforts in the region.

• Global Giving: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/kumamoto-japan-earthquake-relief-fund/
• JEN: http://www.jen-npo.org/en/index.php
• Peace Boat: http://pbv.or.jp/donate/201604_kumamoto/english.html
• Peace Winds Japan: http://peace-winds.org/en/news/1108
• Second Harvest Japan: https://2hj.org/activity/report/report/2106.html
• PlaNet Finance Japan: http://www.planetfinance.or.jp/english/us/index.php

Or

• Exchange your JAL miles for donations: https://www.jal.co.jp/jalmile/use/charity/kmjeq2016/
• If you have Yahoo! Japan ID and T-point, you can donate your t-points to Kumamoto (1 point=1 yen) http://donation.yahoo.co.jp/detail/1630023/
• (In person) Collection boxes at all branches of the Fukuoka city hall http://www.fukuoka-now.com/…/donation-collection-boxes-201…/

Major banks such as UFG, Mizuho etc. will also accept donations in their branches.

Donations will first go towards helping survivors’ immediate needs for food, fuel, clean water, hygiene products, and shelter. Once initial relief work is complete, funds will transition to support longer-term recovery efforts run by local organisations.