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Shinnyo-en contributes to relief efforts for the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake

January 17, 2024

At the entrance to a building, a man wearing an orange hi-vis vest with a SeRV logo printed on the back of it carries a large white box toward a woman waiting to receive it with outstretched arms; large empty water containers, trash bags, and a makeshift station for distribution of food and water are visible in the scene.

Tokyo, Japan / Photo courtesy of Shinnyo-en Relief Volunteers

In response to the severe earthquake that struck Noto Peninsula on the evening of New Year’s Day 2024, Shinnyo-en immediately organized a task force at the Ogen Center in Tokyo and began coordinating with Shinnyo-en staff at headquarters and branch temples in the affected area to prevent damage. The task force is gathering information on the situation in the region and keeping track of supplies needed for relief efforts. Shinnyo-en has offered a donation of $1.4 million (¥200 million) to support relief efforts, fund volunteer activity, contribute to disaster relief organizations active in affected areas, and to purchase needed supplies.

An advance team of Shinnyo-en Relief Volunteers (SeRV) dispatched to Ishikawa Prefecture has been evaluating damage in affected areas and sharing information with social welfare councils and disaster relief organizations. Working with the Japan Religion Coordinating Project for Disaster Relief (JPRD), Shinnyo-en has provided use of its Hokuriku Head Temple in Kanazawa City as a center for storing and distributing bottled water in the area. Relief organizations have been working together to distribute the more than 6 thousand bottles of water from the temple to evacuation centers in the region. On the 7th, SeRV delivered a total of 588 bottles of drinking water to four supply hubs and social welfare councils in the cities of Kanazawa and Nanao, and the town of Uchinada.

Two men wearing medical masks and wearing orange hi-vis vests with the SeRV logo on them deliver boxes of supplies to a makeshift station for distribution of relief supplies set up atop blue tarps in the entrance to a building; tiled, high peaked Japanese rooftops are visible in the background.

Shinnyo-en will continue to collaborate with government agencies and non-governmental relief groups to carry out ongoing support activities, sincerely praying for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives, the peace of mind of those affected by the disaster, and the recovery of the affected areas.

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