Kanazawa: Logistics company Yamato Transport Co. is helping local government officials sort relief supplies and send them to victims of the recent deadly earthquake in the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan.

Piles of relief supplies have been delivered to the prefecture from central and local governments and companies nationwide, overwhelming officials of the prefectural government working at a relay point.

In Ishikawa, relief supplies such as food and water are first taken to an industrial exhibition hall in its capital, Kanazawa, and then sent to disaster-hit areas by the Self-Defense Forces and the prefectural trucking association.

As more and more items arrive, the work of sorting relief supplies gets complicated.

On Jan. 9, Yamato Transport started giving advice to prefectural officials at the hall about ways to effectively handle and organize goods and streamline logistics.

“Thanks to the company’s knowhow, the work has become a lot smoother,” a prefectural official said.

In past large disasters, some disaster-stricken municipalities were unable to quickly handle large amounts of relief supplies.

It is becoming important to build a smooth logistics system for relief supplies in Ishikawa because many quake victims will likely have to stay in evacuation shelters for a long time.

JIJI Press