The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011 was the greatest one in the Japanese history and enormous damage was brought to very wide areas. We extend our most sincere sympathy to all those affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. We would also like to express our sincere respect and appreciation towards those who are striving for reconstruction in the midst of this difficult situation. The DOWA group has been fortunate to have only suffered indirect and minor harm to our employees, equipment and facilities. However, we suffered from the difficulty to procure materials and fuel, power shortages and frequent aftershocks. As of May, although DOWA group restarted operations in every group company, some of our partner companies and customers in our supply chain are still suffering from the earthquake. In a long-term indirect impact on us may increase.
We not only strive to reconstruct our own companies, but also strive to contribute to reconstruction from the disaster through our main business that connects us with the society.
We would like to report how we responded to the earthquake and our efforts after the earthquake.
The headquarters of the DOWA group is located on the 22nd floor of the office building complex in Akihabara, Chiyoda-ku.
Many offices, approximately 34,000, are concentrated in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. Approximately 850,000 people work in the area during daytime, as compared to about 50,000 residents who live there. In that Chiyoda-ku is a very unique ward in Tokyo. It was estimated that many people could not go back home in the event of a flood or earthquake, as the transportation systems and public infrastructure would be damaged.
We participate in disaster drills offered by the ward office or the management of the building where our office is located every year. We have prepared helmets for all employees working in the headquarters in addition to emergency water and food. On day of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11th, we were able to keep employees in-house until the public transportation recovered, as we had prepared for such disasters.
Our disaster prevention schemes in place, focusing on employees’ safety was well reflected in our initial response to the earthquake. We will continue to enhance the disaster readiness by reflecting lessons learned from this earthquake and reviewing our disaster manuals.
Disaster drills by Chiyoda-ku
Disaster drills by UDX Building
March 11 (Friday) 14:46 pm
Earthquake occurred (Magnitude Earthquake level 5 on the Japanese scale)
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We ensured safety of employees working in the headquarters (30 employees approx.). They took cover under their desks with their helmets on as instructed by the drills.
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We notified employees that they would stay in the headquarters building for a period of time through in-house announcements.
15:00 pm – We confirmed the situation in the headquarters.
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We set up a white board for operating company to check on the safety of its employees and damage to each operating company while aftershocks continued. DOWA Holdings collected all data and shared them with other group companies.
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HD Administration departments set up a task force to take care of employees in the headquarters.
18:00 pm – Measures for Employees Going Home
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As aftershocks decreased, we allowed employees who were able to find means to go back home to leave the headquarters with helmet on.
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Each company prepared the list of safety confirmation of its employees and allowed them to go back home.
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We delivered emergency water and food reserved to employees who were not able to find means to go home.
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Meeting rooms were offered to female employees for lodging.
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We opened up our training center located in Kinshi-cho for employees to stay overnight. Employees who want to stay there moved to the center in groups from the headquarters.
March 12 (Saturday)
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All employees went home after public transportation restarted.
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We confirmed safety of employees using mobile phones and internet.
March 13 (Monday) and on
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We confirmed the status of the damaged group companies, prepared and offered support to them.
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We reported the situation of DOWA to our customers and responded to them accordingly.
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We responded to requests for the saving electrical energy due to disruptions in supply.
Disaster drilling scene at Akita Zinc, 2010
DOWA group has many bases in Tohoku and Kanto areas. Some of our companies in Akita Prefecture were hit by this earthquake and stopped operations. Although those companies were obliged to continue operations like maintenance or security operations due to power failure and inspection of damaged equipment and facilities for a while, they started normal operations at the end of March or at the beginning of April.
In 2010 companies in Iijima district, mainly Akita Zinc conducted large-scale disaster drills, anticipating complex disasters including earthquakes. This enabled us to smoothly stop equipment and facilities even without lighting and without regular means of communication such as telephones. We were also able to respond quickly and prevent discharged water and exhaust gases from overflowing into the environment outside our facilities.
Each group company is now reconfirming the importance of routine disaster drills and reviewing its disaster prevention schemes and risk management.
Iron powder for body warmers
After the earthquake, mainly our HD Administration department reviewed how we can support the affected area and what goods are required there. We gathered information that affected people needed supplies to deal with the cold at that time of the year and decided to offer portable body warmers for which we the produce raw materials. Our main manufacturing sites of the body warmers are located mainly in Okayama area. They procured the products and sent 27,600 warmers in 90 packages directly to Miyagi Prefecture and also asked to Kurashiki City and JSDF to deliver 22,800 warmers in 75 packages by JSDF planes to the affected areas.
Smelters and Refineries located along the Pacific Ocean with close relations with DOWA suffered from great damage. Mainly DOWA Metals & Mining and DOWA Metaltech procured 24,000 bottles of water and tea drinks, 4,000 cans, 600 kg of packaged food and other relief supplies including sanitary goods, and DOWA Tsu-un in the DOWA group delivered them directly to the affected areas.
The DOWA group donated \100,000,000 to the Central Community Chest of Japan for relief of the affected people and reconstruction of the affected areas. Also in response to our appeals to our directors and employees, we received total relief money of \325,000 from all group companies in Japan. The money was also donated to the Central Community Chest of Japan.
DOWA eco-fan
In connection with tight electricity supply caused by the earthquake, we strengthened energy saving efforts at the headquarters and facilities all over Japan. At the headquarters, we stopped some elevators and escalators in the building, adjusted settings of air-conditioning and turning off lights alternately, contributing to reducing power consumption.
We strive to promote the cool biz campaign in our Tokyo headquarters by delivering handheld fans to employees to contribute to saving electricity and to raise awareness of employees for energy conservation.
DOWA group believes that support through our main business is our mission.
Our electronic materials and parts that use copper, zinc, lead or rare metals are important materials in automobile, home electric appliances, information communication and new energy fields. As a company located in the upper stream of supply chains, we are committed to continuously supplying necessary materials and parts stably for reconstruction and further development of industries that support Japan.
DOWA Eco-System that is engaged in environment-related business set up a task force for reconstruction in Sendai. We consider offering support through our wastes disposal, recycling and soil remediation businesses. Among many difficulties lying in the process of reconstructing the affected areas, we put the first priority on how to resolve the problem of huge amount of industrial waste. This waste is causing problems to securing hygiene, conservation of environment and recovery of everyday life of the affected people, so its early disposal is of the highest urgency. However, collection, transportation, selection and proper treatment of the wastes like the ordinary times is impossible now, as the waste must be segregated at temporary sites and there is a problem of mixed wastes. Therefore, we must first consider what exactly we can do, and then continue our support activities not only using our own facilities and technologies, but also in cooperation with the affected municipalities and companies to generate greatest leverage on the systems of society as a whole.
