Support for Noto Peninsula Earthquake

Immediately after the disaster struck on January 1, 2024, Japan Heart began surveying local relief needs, and on the following day, Japan Heart donated 25 cases of emergency relief packs that had been stockpiled in Toyama Prefecture to Himi City, Toyama Prefecture, utilizing the new "Disaster Heart Stock" system to provide necessary supplies to the elderly, infants, and others in need at no cost. The company donated 25 cases of emergency relief packets that had been stockpiled in Toyama Prefecture. On January 3, in response to the need for material support in the Nakanoto area, we donated 54 cases of the same aid packs. In addition, we have begun shipping supplies stockpiled in Okayama Prefecture to Hokuriku, and plan to provide the same material support to the city of Imizu.

Upcoming Activities

In addition to material support, a medical team including two nurses arrived at the site on January 3. We plan to provide human support in parallel, after surveying the damage and needs in the Noto Peninsula.

Japan Heart's international emergency relief operations provide human and material support in the occasion of large-scale natural disasters and pandemics, both in Japan and abroad. Based on the disaster relief scheme established based on these experiences, we will continue to provide assistance to the areas affected by the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.

◆Information will be posted on our website and social media as needed
Japan Heart Website: https://www.japanheart.org/
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How donations are used

Your donation will be used to support the affected areas, mainly by providing supplies and dispatching medical teams. Thank you in advance for your warm support.

Japan Heart's major domestic emergency relief activities

Japan Heart's International Emergency Relief provides emergency medical assistance in response to large-scale disasters in Japan and abroad.

March 2011 - March 2014 Emergency Assistance for the Great East Japan Earthquake

On March 17, we entered the disaster area and recruited doctors, nurses, and general volunteers from all over Japan for Japan Heart's first emergency medical support activities in Japan. More than 450 volunteers were dispatched.
On site, the volunteers provided medical care at evacuation centers, transported medical supplies, provided psychological care to disaster victims, and dispatched volunteers.
In addition, to support local general practitioners, we opened the Japan Heart Children's and Internal Medicine Clinic in Ishinomaki, which was open only on Saturdays and Sundays, and supported local medical services for about three years.

April 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake Emergency Relief

We entered the medical response headquarters in Minami-ku, Kumamoto City, and provided medical patrol support to evacuation centers as a medical relief team. At the same time, we made a field visit to a nursing home for the elderly in Minami Aso, after receiving information that the facility was in need of assistance due to numerous requests to accept evacuees requiring nursing care. We dispatched a team of nurses to meet the request of the facility, which had applied for a welfare shelter to protect vulnerable elderly people on their own.

April 2020 - September 2022 Emergency relief for COVID-19 infection

1. Dispatch of medical support teams

Following a request from Nagasaki Prefecture for medical support activities for the crew of Costa Atlantica, a medical team (doctors and nurses) was dispatched from April 29 to May 18, and a total of 485 nurses and other medical teams were dispatched to 201 medical institutions and welfare facilities throughout Japan until September 2022.

2. Distribution of medical masks

Through crowdfunding and charity auctions as part of the "#Masks for Medical Professionals" project, the company procured 2 million masks with approximately 150 million yen raised from 15,000 people. Masks were delivered to a total of 726 institutions, mainly Class I designated medical institutions for infectious diseases, tertiary emergency medical institutions, and hospitals with specific functions.

3. Infection Control Guidance for Care and Welfare Facilities

We provided infection control instruction on wearing and removing protective equipment and zoning in facilities for medical/caregiver workers in care and welfare settings nationwide.

■August 2021 Emergency relief for heavy rain disaster

We provided material support and infection control guidance to evacuation centers in Takeo City and Omachi Town in Saga Prefecture, and conducted health and hygiene activities to visit homebound evacuees in the area.

■September 2022 Emergency relief for Typhoon No. 14 and No. 15

We dispatched paramedics to Miyazaki Prefecture, which was severely damaged by Typhoon No. 14, to provide emergency support in the form of supplies. We also dispatched a medical team to Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, which was severely damaged by Typhoon No. 15, to provide emergency relief supplies.

■July 2023 Dispatched a medical team to Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, which was severely damaged by heavy rain, to provide human and material support.

From July 11, a medical team was dispatched to northern Kyushu, which was severely damaged by the torrential rains that began on July 10, to conduct a needs assessment and provide emergency human and material support in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture.

We plan to continue to implement relief activities while assessing the support needs on the site.

About us

Founded in 2004 as an international medical volunteer organization, we are an international medical NGO originating from Japan. It operates on the principle of "bringing medical care to the places where it is not available," and provides free medical treatment and surgery for children in Japan and other Asian countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, amounting to approximately 34,000 cases per year. In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, more than 450 medical personnel were dispatched to the region. In addition, to prevent the collapse of medical care due to the spread of novel coronavirus infection, we conducted the "#Masks for Medical Workers" project. 15,000 people donated more than 150 million yen through crowdfunding, and more than 2 million masks were distributed to approximately 700 medical institutions.

■Tax Deductions

Donations to Japan Heart, a certified non-profit organization, are eligible for tax benefits such as a donation deduction, and tax refunds are available by filing a tax return.
Receipts can be issued for donations of 3,000 yen or more.
Donations can only be made by credit card.
*The date of receipt is the day the money is received from the credit card payment company to Japan Heart.