Tokyo Two Wheeling

Hamamatsu City Donates 834 Bicycles to Earthquake Victims

Translated by Paul Richards from At-S article. Original article in Japanese.

A Towa Transport employee loads a donated bicycle onto a truck.

To help those affected by the Tohoku Earthquake the City of Hamamatsu appealed to its residents to donate bicycles. The City sent the first shipment of 300 bicycles to Sendai on March 21. They arrived in the disaster struck area on the morning of March 22.

To help victims cope with gasoline shortages and damaged roads each of the City’s wards presented 834 bicycles over the two day period of March 19 – March 20. The ward offices collected women’s bicycles and mountain bikes donated by residents. There were even brand new bicycles among the bikes collected.

Donating bicycles to the stricken area was proposed by Towa Transport company president Andou Yoshio. Towa Transport provided three 10 ton trucks to transport the bicycles to Sendai. The transport companies affiliate in Sendai was severely damaged by the tsunami.

On each a sticker saying “Ganbare Tohoku, (Hamamatsu)” (Good luck, Tohoku! From Hamamatsu City) was attached. The remainder of the bicycles will be delivered to affected areas upon request. 200 more bikes will go to Sendai and 100 bikes to Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture. President Andou said that he “wanted to help in the recovery effort”.

Editorial Note: Tokyo Two Wheeling thanks the people of Hamamatsu City and Towa Transport for their generous donations to the earthquake victims. Even in Kodaira City, far from the disaster struck area, we are feeling the pinch of gasoline shortages. When I see cars queuing up for 30 minutes or more for gasoline I appreciate my bicycle. I know that these bicycles will help the recipients begin to put their lives back together after their loss.