Photo: © 2011 Scott Jones Photography – All Rights Reserved
As we sit halfway around the world, essentially powerless to change the events unfolding in Japan, there still comes the feeling that we should be doing something, anything, to aid the people affected by the recent 9.0 earthquake, subsequent tsunami, and unfolding nuclear disaster.
Rising to a call of action, Moto for Japan is an effort by a group of motorcyclists that donates money to the American Red Cross via an inspired charitable platform developed by none other than Hollywood’s Edward Norton. The effort has been making the rounds on the internet the past two days, and its creators, Greg Hatton and Jon Bekefy, should be praised for their thoughtful thinking.
Perhaps a different take on how to best bring aid to Japan, I got an interesting message from Mark Gardiner, who pointed out “Japan is not Haiti. By the time we can actually deliver bottled water and blankets to the scene, people will have walked to parts of Japan that are relatively unscathed. If you want to help Japan, buy Honda stock.” I think ‘The Backmarker’ is grasping a key point here, and with permission, we’ve reproduced his article on the subject as a guest post after the jump. – Jensen
The fallout from the now upgraded 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan, which saw a massive tsunami and nuclear meltdown follow in its wake, has devastated the island nation — for which the true lasting damage will likely take years to fully assess and understand. While the international community continues to rally around Japan, offering support and resources, the resolute country is showing its unwavering calmness and preparedness as it handles an event that many are comparing to those of World War II.
Paled in comparison to the events surrounding it, the Japanese motorcycle industry has naturally been affected by the natural disaster, with Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha releasing press releases describing what measure their business are undertaking in these changing conditions.
While the world holds its breath and watches Japan contend with the aftermath from an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown, MotoGP has decided to give the island nation less things to worry about, rescheduling the Japanese GP that was to be held at the Twin Rings circuit in Motegi, Japan on April 24th, to later in the year on October 2nd.
While Dorna publicly announced yesterday that it would abide by whatever decision Japan would make in regards to hosting MotoGP in April, the reality is that the area surround Motegi that typical hosts the teams was ravaged by the earthquake. Reports also indicate that the Twin Rings circuit has actually been damaged from the natural disaster, further solidifying the decision to postpone the race.
If you’re just starting your routine this Friday morning, you’ve likely already seen that a massive earthquake struck Japan about 230 miles offshore from Tokyo. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake is one of the top seven most powerful quakes in recorded history, and the largest to hit Japan in over 100 years. Occurring relatively close to the surface, the Sendai Earthquake, as it’s being called, triggered a tsunami, with waves as tall as 30 feet. Since the initial quake, a series of aftershocks have hit Japan as well, with many of those having a magnitude of 5.0 or greater on the Richter scale.
While Japan has more serious issues to contend with at the moment, the immediate ramifications for the motorcycle industry appear to be the now expected delays in shipping motorcycles from Japan to other countries. So far Honda has confirmed that it has shutdown production at its Saitama factory, while production at its Suzuka factory has resumed. Honda has also confirmed that one worker died and 30 others were injured when a wall collapsed in its research and development facility in Tochigi.
To help raise money for the student housing that was toppled by the Aquila earthquake, MV Agusta Corse and Citroën have teamed up and created a special edition of the C2 that will be auctioned off on eBay. Dubbed the Citroën C2 Brutale, the C2 will sport styling cues similar to those found on the MV Agusta Brutale 1078 RR. To help facilitate that task, the design folks of MV Agusta came in, and gave the Citroën its fit and finish.
Riders Niccolò Canepa and Mika Kallio have added stickers on their Pramac D16 bikes in memory of the people of Abruzzo, Italy who lost their lives in the Monday’s devasting earthquake. Joining Capena and Kallio is Valentino Rossi, who will also ride at Qatar with a sticker in support of the people of Abruzzo.
“This weekend I have a special sticker on my bike, which says ‘Forza Abruzzo’. It’s a message from us for the people of Abruzzo. It’s not so far from my home in Tavullia and I want them to know that we are with them at such a terrible time.”
The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake was an earthquake of 6.3 moment magnitude that occurred in the central Italian region of Abruzzo on April. So far at least 289 people are known to have died, and 10 are still missing, making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.
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