Kumamoto Earthquake Relief: Water Aid from JA Saga and Hiroshima Volunteers

Following the July 28 Kumamoto earthquake, JA Group Saga dispatched a truck carrying 12,000 five‑hundred‑millilitre bottles – about 6,000 litres of drinking water – from Kashima to Hikawa town on August 5, marking the cooperative’s first direct aid to the disaster zone.

Separately, volunteers from Hiroshima transported portable water‑purification units developed by Sambore. According to Sambore President Shōkyū Oda, each unit can treat up to 20 tonnes of water per day, enough for 10,000 people’s drinking needs and 1,000 people’s daily use. The units were installed in the cities of Uki and Yatsushiro, providing shower and toilet water despite the extreme heat of 41 °C and the physical strain on volunteers.