Over 100 Volunteers Supporting Recovery in Noto: Deloitte Tohmatsu Group’s Pro Bono Team in Action
Disclaimer: This is an English translated summary of the article originally posted in Japanese. Should you wish to read the original article, visit the PBV Japanese website: https://pbv.or.jp/blog/?p=38067
This article introduces the diverse partner companies and organizations collaborating with PBV. This time, we focus on a partnership example in which “internal members are dispatched as disaster volunteers to the site,” directly responding to the rapidly changing needs of the affected area with reliable personnel and proactive action.
It has been two and a half years since the Noto Peninsula earthquake occurred in January 2024. As the support needed by the disaster-hit area evolves daily, there are reassuring partners who continue to stand by the residents of Wajima, the local community of the affected region, alongside PBV. Among them is the Deloitte Tohmatsu Group’s volunteer pro bono team, “Just Do It‼ Regional Initiative (hereafter JDI).”
Since March 2025, JDI has been continuously dispatching over 100 members, 2 to 4 times each month, using one overnight, two-day weekend trips to Wajima, providing ongoing support on the ground. Through this collaboration of sending company employees to disaster zones, we explore what kind of changes this brings locally and what value it creates for the participants. Here, we share the one and a half-year journey of collaboration between JDI and PBV.
Typically, when companies try to engage in volunteer activities in disaster-stricken areas, concerns about risk and safety tend to be barriers to implementation. However, JDI’s motto is “Just Do It!!” With exceptional agility, members gather immediately to respond to sudden local needs and adapt flexibly. The Deloitte Tohmatsu Group, which has over 20,000 staff members nationwide, saw many JDI members, often meeting for the first time, demonstrate outstanding teamwork and remarkable work speed, honed through their work at Deloitte Tohmatsu, on the ground.
Their true value was evident during the “shelter closure operations” in April 2025. While the closure of shelters tends to attract less public attention compared to the initial opening of shelters immediately after a disaster, it actually requires a significant amount of manpower. In a situation where there were only about six municipal staff members available, the JDI members responded to the urgent local request and proceeded with remarkable agility.
In summer 2025, during the “Disaster Stockpile Sorting,” they handled the enormous task of sorting supplies. Their swift work, combined with leveraging IT strengths for data entry and proposing efficient management methods, reduced what normally takes 1–2 days to just half a day thanks to outstanding collaboration. Additionally, in December 2025 to January 2026, during the “Emergency Supply Transportation,” 16 members immediately gathered to evacuate materials due to public facility dismantling. They made numerous trips with large vehicles, demonstrating organizational prowess and proactive action.
From May 22-24, 2026, 17 members supported various on-site needs, including cleanup at the Wajima Disaster Volunteer Center, sorting disaster waste, and tidying local activity spaces. We received heartfelt gratitude from staff at the Wajima Welfare Council, saying, “Balancing these tasks alongside our daily work was quite challenging, but with everyone’s help, it was truly a great support.”
Beyond physical work, members actively engaged in grassroots activities connecting the community—distributing event flyers and posting posters for residents. Their high responsiveness to local needs, quick adaptation, and heartfelt actions deeply resonated with PBV staff, instilling a sense of strength and reassurance.
PBV extends its sincere gratitude to the Deloitte Tohmatsu Group and the members of JDI for their continued support of disaster-affected communities.
