On 16 April, Kumamoto, a city in Japan’s Kyushu island, was devastated by a series of earthquakes the worst of which had a magnitude of 7.0. As a result of the damage more than 44,000 people have been displaced, around 3,000 people have been injured and at least 49 have been killed.

Previously there have only been a few ways for people outside of Japan to provide aid for those affected by the earthquake, but now a new charity project has been launched to try and help change that.

The “Gamadase” project has just been launched to help raise money to help with the reconstruction aid effort in the area. Named after a term meaning “please stand firm” in the Kumamoto dialect, the UK-based project is hoping to gather these contributions through the sale of badges. Designed by Risako Ueda, a student from Kumamoto, the badges feature three different anime-inspired designs and will be sold at £2 per badge.

1,000 badges will be made initially, and all proceeds raised by the project will be sent to the Japanese Red Cross Society through the Japanese Embassy based in the UK.

The badges will be sold in the Japan Centre and JP Books in London later this week, and there is also a Facebook page which will provide information on how to support the project.

Also, look out for the badges for sale at this weekend’s MCM London Comic Con!