Blanket support for disaster victims in Sendai Print
Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:29

SEPANG: Malaysians have contributed10,000 blankets for earthquake and tsunami victims in Sendai, Japan.

This was made possible by the joint effort of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), Malaysia Airlines Cargo Sdn Bhd (MASkargo), Asian Research Centre for Child and Adolescent Development Malaysia (Arccade), SP Setia Group Bhd, Allied Pickfords and Rotary International.
The 10-tonne consignment will be sent to Japan by MASkargo within the week.

The campaign, which ran from March 18-31, was a humanitarian relief effort to provide aid for the stricken Japanese after last month’s devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster.

“The plight of Japanese victims has moved the world, including Malaysians, to contribute humanitarian aid,” said MASkargo global sales and government affairs senior vice-president Mohd Yunus Idris at a press conference here yesterday.

“The response was overwhelming. Many Malaysians wanted to make a tangible difference in Japan,” Arccade consulting psychologist and director Dr Brendan Gomez said.

SP Setia customer relations head Azlin Aris said the company sent out an SMS to all its customers throughout Malaysia.

“We also alerted the Setia Alam Residents’ Association, which then spread the word to its 5,000-odd members,” she said, adding that they managed to collect 2,000 blankets in six days.

Rotary International and Arccade were involved in collecting the blankets while Allied Pickfords mobilised its trucks all over Malaysia to transport the blankets here.

A tonne of blankets was sent on April 7. The second shipment of five tonnes will be flown to Narita International Airport today, while the last four tonnes will leave Kuala Lumpur on Sunday