Donations for earthquake victims fill Chad Griffin's vehicle at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Jan. 15, 2024. Griffin is a civilian serving as the 374th Security Forces Squadron's reports and analysis section chief. (Chad Griffin)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — A civilian employee at this airlift hub in western Tokyo teamed up with a friend to deliver blankets and other essentials to victims of a deadly earthquake that struck central Japan on New Year’s Day.
The death toll from the 7.6-magnitude temblor on the Noto Peninsula topped 200 as relief and recovery work continued throughout January. Work on restoring water and power to some sections of the peninsula continued Wednesday, according to reports in Japanese media.
Not long after the quake, Chad Griffin, the 374th Security Forces Squadron reports and analysis section chief, came across a video posted online by friend Enson Inoue, an American mixed martial artist living in Saitama prefecture.
Inoue, who created the Hawaii-based nonprofit Enson Inoue Foundation to provide disaster relief and humanitarian aid, had visited the stricken area with relief supplies in early January and posted a video of his trip on social media, according to a Jan. 25 Air Force news release.
Griffin said he was motivated to do something for Noto quake victims after watching Inoue’s video.
“After seeing his first run I wanted to see if we could help make a difference,” Griffin told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday. “The Yokota Community has been incredible along with my command team in allowing to me to help with these collections.”
The quake brought down buildings, crumpled roads and caused floods and fires throughout the stricken area. More than 19,000 people were displaced and about 40,000 homes were left without heat and power in frigid conditions, according to Japanese media reports.
The Japanese government first declined foreign help but in mid-January accepted assistance from U.S. Forces Japan, which dispatched two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from Camp Zama to deliver a ton of relief supplies.
By then, Griffin and Inoue were already at work drumming up donations for their own relief effort.
“I got together with Inoue, and we put up an announcement on social media to collect donations,” Griffin said in the news release. “It was all individual donors, and we were able to get a lot of stuff in seven days just from the generosity of the base community.”
The Yokota community dropped off 50 packs of diapers, 30 blankets and more than 1,000 rolls of toilet paper at Griffin’s office.
Griffin, his son, John Michael Griffin, and Inoue delivered the supplies on Jan. 15 in Inoue’s van. The group disposed of all their donated goods within 10 hours of arriving in Ishikawa prefecture.
“We went to three evacuation centers that were either housing people or they were used as a drop-off place where the people could come and pick up goods within,” he said in the release.
Griffin and Inoue plan another donation drive in February.
