Granted, Panasonic’s so-called “Life Innovation Container” isn’t nearly as cool as the futuristic mobile robot house from Japan we’ve shown you back in January. But the victims of the big earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 still need any help they can get, which means Panasonic’s decision to send one unit of the container to Minami-Sanrikucho is good news.
The town in Miyagi prefecture has been in the spotlight for weeks now, as close to 10,000 residents are still missing.
Originally, Panasonic’s container was meant to be deployed in areas with no electric power supply, mainly in developing nations. The roof of the unit is mounted with solar panels. Inside, there is a set of lead storage batteries (on the left on the picture below) and a power control unit (shown on the right).
Panasonic’s container is designed to supply electricity to facilities (i.e schools or clinics), but in Miyagi, the container will be used to power communication facilities.
The company already donated $3.6 million in cash, plus thousands of radios, flashlights, solar lanterns and batteries.