Rogers responds to earthquake in Japan

By: RogersMiranda

March 11th, 2011 a 4:01pm

Following this morning’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan, our thoughts are with all those affected by this devastating disaster.

Beginning today, Rogers and Fido wireless customers can text ASIA to 30333 to donate $5 to earthquake relief efforts. 100% of all donations will go to the Canadian Red Cross Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami fund.

To help Canadians stay up-to-date on news and information from Japan, Rogers is making TV Japan available on free preview on Channel 829 to all digital cable customers in Ontario.

Those concerned about Canadian friends or family possibly affected by the earthquake can call the Department of Foreign Affairs and International trade (DFAIT) at 613-943-1055 or 1-800-387-3124. You can also follow Canada’s Foreign Affairs Twitter account for information here.

Donations can also be made online at www.redcross.ca/helpnow, at your local branch office or by calling toll free 1-800-418-1111.

Miranda MacDonald is a regular contributor to RedBoard.

Rating: 3.8/5 (26 votes cast)

Categories:

Community, news, Wireless

Tags:

Canadian, Canadian Red Cross, department of foreign affiars and international trade, DFAIT, disaster relief, earthquake, Fido, Japan, Red Cross, relief efforts, Rogers, text to donate, tsunami, TV Japan

38 Comments

Unknow says: March 11th, 2011 a 4:56pm

Why isn’t Rogers donating any money?
- RogersMiranda says: March 14th, 2011 a 4:09pm
  
  We’re monitoring the situation and working closely with the Red Cross.
  - John says: March 17th, 2011 a 4:41pm
    
    Monitoring the situation? Almost half a million people are homeless! It’s winter season, short on food, water, power and fuel! Why not do something and help out instead of letting your customers do it for you!? I’m really ashamed to be a Rogers customer right now!
sena says: March 11th, 2011 a 11:05pm

Thank you mirander, thank you rogers!
javatyger says: March 12th, 2011 a 12:20am

Sent my $5 donation. :) Love that Rogers helps out in causes like this.
Dai says: March 12th, 2011 a 3:53pm

Free preview is still not up on 829
- RogersMiranda says: March 14th, 2011 a 10:10am
  
  Hi Dai,
  
  The free preview took a little time to reach all boxes. Try again today. If it’s still not working for you, can you send me an email at redboardfeedback@rci.rogers.com ? I’ll look into it.
  
  Also note the free preview is only available in Ontario.
  - ET says: March 15th, 2011 a 11:27pm
    
    It is already Mar15, and why is it take that long for signal to reach my cable box? I still have no ch829 Japan TV free.
    Can you follow up with your engineer?
    - RogersMiranda says: March 16th, 2011 a 10:21am
      
      Hi ET,
      
      If you are located in Ontario, the channel should be live. Try resetting your cable box. If it still doesn’t work, can you please send an email to redboardfeedback@rci.rogers.com with your location and contact details so I can follow up with the team here.
Matt says: March 13th, 2011 a 2:43pm

Good job Rogers… very easy to donate money. Let’s help our Japanese friends!
RogersMiranda says: March 14th, 2011 a 10:10am

Thank you for your donations!
Issam says: March 14th, 2011 a 11:42am

Donated last night. Very easy to do. Thank you. :)
John says: March 14th, 2011 a 3:03pm

Sent my donation as well. Everyone please post instructions on how to donate from your cell phone on your facebook status! You have no idea how fast the message would spread!
- RogersMiranda says: March 14th, 2011 a 4:09pm
  
  Great idea!
Lisa says: March 14th, 2011 a 5:47pm

This is a one time donation right? Not something I get subscripted to? I only ask because I just sent the text to donate and after responding YES when prompted, it said ‘text STOP to cancel’
- John says: March 15th, 2011 a 11:01am
  
  It’s once but you have an option to donate up to 6 times per month.
  - Lisa says: March 15th, 2011 a 12:10pm
    
    Great, thanks!
Tom says: March 15th, 2011 a 12:51pm

I notice a direct link above to the Red Cross to make a contribution. With Air Miles, you can also redeem your AIR MILES reward miles to donate to the Canadian Red Cross Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami Fund. Donate 200 Air Miles and $25 will be contributed.

https://www.airmiles.ca/arrow/ProductTicketingDetails?productId=prod1283903

The important thing here is the contribution and not how it is made.
- RogersMiranda says: March 16th, 2011 a 10:22am
  
  Thanks Tom. Great suggestion about donating Air Miles. I saw a few people promoting that on Twitter over the weekend.
Leilah says: March 15th, 2011 a 4:26pm

Hey, guys! I heard in the US that cellphone providers usually take a billing cycle to process the donations that are done by text but that they have made exceptions in cases of dire and immediate need. Are the donations through Rogers going through right away? If not, is there a change that an exception could be made in this circumstance?

Thanks so much!
John says: March 16th, 2011 a 1:30am

Will Rogers be making a donations as well? Telus just donated $100,000 plus matching what ever their employees donates. I hope Rogers will do something similar! In fact all corporations should work together on this?
Shammy says: March 16th, 2011 a 8:02am

Rogers, really hoping you guys step up and donate. Heck, even challenge your competitors to match or beat you! Take the lead here, demostrate leadership and inspire! I’ve been with you guys since Rogers Cantel days, and really hope you guys step up with something significant!
- RogersMiranda says: March 16th, 2011 a 10:23am
  
  @Shammy @John
  
  Thanks for the suggestions guys.
  - John says: March 16th, 2011 a 12:47pm
    
    If no donations are made by Rogers. I’ll be VERY disappointed in you guys!
    - Shammy says: March 16th, 2011 a 3:17pm
      
      +1 John. Especially since this is under the header of “Rogers responding to earthquake in Japan.” Perhaps more accurately, it should read “Rogers customers respond to earthquake in Japan” until something formal is announced by Rogers.
kevin says: March 16th, 2011 a 1:24pm

What about free calling to Japan for those of us with family there?
Richard says: March 17th, 2011 a 1:06pm

My wife and I have subscribed for many years to the TV Japan channel offered through the many multicultural packages Rogers promotes to customers. Since the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, we have both had the channel on for several hours throughout the day as we have found the feed from NHK to be the most informative and up to date. Now, since the disaster, we noticed that Rogers has a special promotion where customers can view TV Japan for free. We pay $19.95 per month for the channel, so, naturally, I telephoned Rogers to request a credit to our account. I was told that I could not receive a credit and would have to keep paying. I have, therefore, now cancelled the TV Japan channel. Further to this, I know of several other people affected by the same, above scenario and have taken similar action. Surely, Rogers could have foreseen that current subscribers of TV Japan would have been of Japanese heritage or at least have a strong interst in Japan with friends and family affected by the events overseas. Frankly, I don’t think Rogers promotion to “help those in need” is genuine. Rogers is reacting but by taking advantage of the disaster: promoting their multicultural service; text messaging; charging per text; etc. If Rogers genuinely wanted to help, they would at least match every donation made by those using their text service to make a donation. I also think Rogers should credit current subscribers during promotional free previews.
- RogersMiranda says: March 17th, 2011 a 5:29pm
  
  Hi Richard,
  
  When there are natural disasters, we often make local channels available on free preview so those in Canada can keep up to date on news and information from the country affected.
  
  Our hearts go out to the thousands of earthquake victims in Japan which is why we wanted to post information about ways people can help or get up-to-date information as soon as possible. Appreciate your suggestions on other ways that we can help with relief efforts. As I said above, we’re monitoring the situation and working closely with the Red Cross.
  
  Also, just to clarify, there is no charge for text messages sent to 30333 for donations to the Red Cross.
  - Richard says: March 18th, 2011 a 12:24pm
    
    We have friends and family in Japan and do business there too. I expect our phone bill this month will have several hundred dollars added because of long distance charges resulting from telephone calls to Japan. All will be going into Roger’s pocket. My suggestion is that Roger’s Communications Inc. give back by contributing financially. It’s much appreciated what Roger’s has done in the past through the “Connecting With Our Communities” program and you are doing what you can now for those affected by the events in Japan, however, it is your customers that are “responding” to this current campaign with Roger’s taking the credit.
Wormwood says: March 17th, 2011 a 1:41pm

I just made my 12 donations from my 2 cell phones. total of $60. (max of 6 per line).

I hope the CDN Red Cross gets the money ASAP.

Just like the BEAT foodbank challenges, i would like to challenge others to make the maximum donation from their cellphone.
- RogersMiranda says: March 17th, 2011 a 5:30pm
  
  We are working closely with the Canadian Red Cross and the Federal Government to ensure donations reach Japan in a timely and effective way that will maximize relief efforts in that country.
  
  Thank you for your generosity. I hope others accept your challenge.
  - John says: March 17th, 2011 a 5:43pm
    
    And I hope ROGERS will accept the challenge as well.
John says: March 17th, 2011 a 9:39pm

Corporate donations:

Fashion chain Uniqlo recently donated a whopping $25.6 million to the Japanese Red Cross

The president of Fast Retailing and Uniqlo founder Tadashi Yanai donated $12.2 million from his own pocket and another $4.9 million will be taken from the company itself. The brand will also send $8.6 million-worth of clothing — including jeans, coats, towels and 300,000 pairs of its Heattech thermal underwear.

A number of game publishers are also pitching.
NC Japan – One month’s subscriptions ~¥ 500 million yen (about $6.15 million)
Square Enix – ¥100 million yen (about $1.23 million)
Konami – ¥100 million yen (about $1.23 million)
Capcom – ¥100 million yen (about $1.23 million)
Sega Sammy – ¥200 million yen (about $2.46 million)
Tecmo Koei – ¥10 million yen (about $123,000)
Nintendo – ¥300 million yen (about $3.69 million)

I Want to see Rogers on that list!
- Richard says: March 18th, 2011 a 12:25pm
  
  I second that.
  - Shammy says: March 21st, 2011 a 7:45am
    
    I third that.
    
    Not meaning to pile on in the least. Seriously.
    
    But how’s the monitoring going? Seen enough to make a decision?
  - Justin says: March 21st, 2011 a 8:21am
    
    You guys realize most of those companies are of Japanese origins, right? It’s no wonder they’re donating such huge amounts. Japan has a rich economy, they will come out of this. I don’t see why Rogers,or other companies in Canada should be so hard pressed to donate money. Haiti was different.. it was a poor country, they needed every bit of financial help. My heart goes out to those lost and affected by this tragedy in Japan, but they do have the financial resources to get through this.
John says: March 19th, 2011 a 10:01pm

Any word on whether Rogers is doing anything to help out Japan? I don’t count this text to donate is helping much since we, the customers, are the ones whose helping. Both Telus and Bell has the the exact same text to donate option.

TELUS announced that they will be donating $100,000 to the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and UNICEF to help with relief efforts in Japan. The company also made the commitment to match donations raised by their employees across the country.

Ummm Rogers?
Nancy says: March 20th, 2011 a 3:19am

“Responding to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint are providing free phone calls to the country.”

Why isn’t Rogers doing this? Right after I heard about the earthquake, I called Japan 18 times but couldn’t get through. If Rogers is not going to make a corporate donation, it should make calls to Japan free for at least a month so that we can call our friends and family in Japan and make a donation with the money that we’ll save.