At Misawa (Hachinohe) airport
Chartis began airlifting supplies from a base in Sapporo into the Tohoku region via the Akita, Misawa and Hanamaki airports.

CEO Hernandez moving supplies from the jet at Misawa airport.

At Hanamaki airport
Relief supplies were moved to a local track one after another and delivered to a relief supply collection site in Iwate Pref.

“Gambare Tohoku’ - Jose A. Hernandez, CEO of Chartis Far East Holdings, and Chris Townsend, CEO of Chartis Asia Pacific, with the Chartis Cup players

Yuzo Hashiya, President of American Home, presents donation to Tyler Foundations’ Kimberly Forsythe

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Supplies airlifted into Tohoku region

Chartis Inc. (Chartis), the general insurance subsidiary of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), working through group companies AIU Insurance Company (AIU), American Home Assurance Company (American Home) and Fuji Fire & Marine Company Ltd. (Fuji Fire & Marine), stepped up relief efforts to Eastern Japan by directly airlifting supplies into the stricken region.

“After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, our immediate concern was for the safety and welfare of our employees and agents in the Tohoku region. We also redeployed resources throughout Japan to provide fully operational call centers and claims procedures to meet the needs of our customers in the affected areas,” said Jose A. Hernandez, CEO of Chartis Far East Holdings K.K.

For example, immediately after the earthquake, Chartis worked closely with Fuji Fire & Marine from its Osaka Headquarters to transport daily truckloads of relief supplies for the first few days from Osaka to Sendai.

“With fuel in short supply and transportation difficult in many areas of Eastern Japan, we have been utilizing infrastructure in the Osaka area to get relief supplies to the Tohoku region as quickly as possible. Our staff is working alongside AIU and American Home to make sure we are fully able to support people in our communities, including our employees and agents in the field who take care of the needs of our customers,” said Takayoshi Yokoyama, President of Fuji Fire & Marine.

Due to the constraints with ground transportation, Chartis has leveraged all corporate resources available and also commenced airlifting supplies from a base in Sapporo into the Tohoku region. Partnering with wholesale retailer Costco, each planeload is bringing up to one and a half metric tons of food, water and other emergency supplies into the Tohoku region via the Akita, Hachinohe and Hanamaki airports. Once landed, the goods are trucked into the Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures. The flights started on Sunday, March 20, 2011, and over 6,500 kg of supplies have been transported over three days. Supplies delivered to each area were donated to the authorities for distribution to the local community.

Chartis companies’ representatives, led by Jose A. Hernandez, travelled to Sapporo to lead the group’s relief flight efforts. At the same time as the team flies into the affected areas to deliver lifeline supplies, Mr. Hernandez and his senior managers met with employees and agents to confirm they have all the support needed personally and professionally.

Chartis group companies in Japan worked together to deliver approximately 75 tons of emergency supplies by ground and air to the affected region.

Support for disaster victims through AIG Disaster Relief Fund

The AIG Disaster Relief Fund, a fund established by Chartis’ parent company AIG to provide relief to victims of disaster and emergencies throughout the world, collected approximately $672,000 in donations from employees in Japan and around the world. AIG matched employees’ donations and contributed a further $2 million to the fund, bringing AIG’s total contribution to earthquake relief efforts in Japan to $3.344 million. The money was donated to the American Red Cross, the Japanese Red Cross Society and Chartis Japan insurance agency federations.

Chartis Raises Funds for Eastern Japan through Charity Sporting Events

Chartis has continued to support the rebuilding efforts in Eastern Japan through the sponsorship of charity sporting events. As the title sponsor of the “The Chartis Cup,” a charity rugby match held in Hong Kong on June 11, all ticket revenue from the event was donated to support relief activities in Japan. Funds raised through ticket sales and donations collected at the match - in total about HK$400,000 (approx. ¥4.1 million), was donated to the “Shine On! Tohoku Children’s Support Program”, which is run by the Tyler Foundation offering activities to alleviate the stress of children and their families in disaster-affected areas.

American Home Assurance, a Chartis company, served as a special sponsor of the "American Home Direct Couples’ Doubles Charity Golf 2011 -Together Always with Your Beloved-”, which was held in Chiba Prefecture on June 17. Donations from participants were matched by the company and ¥2.4 million was donated to activities supporting hospitals in Tohoku affected by the quake, and ¥4.8 million were donated to the Tyler Foundation and the Run for the Cure Foundation for activities supporting children and women affected by cancer.