NHK is reporting that yesterday afternoon a small fire broke out at Nintendo’s corporate headquarters in Kyoto.
Authorities are still investigating the exact cause of the fire, but it’s believed that it was sparked by a faulty device that had been charging
The local fire department says the blaze — which broke out in a room on the third floor — was first called in around 1pm on August 15, and that eight trucks were sent to the scene.
They ultimately weren’t needed, though, because by the time they’d arrived some Nintendo employees had put the fire out themselves, with the only damage reported being a few burned tables and chairs.
Interestingly, it was only a few weeks ago at Nintendo’s annual meeting of shareholders that the company discussed some contingency plans for what would happen if Nintendo’s buildings and assets were ever threatened. Not that they ever were here, but still, it’s interesting reading given the context, or if you’ve ever wondered “how would Nintendo survive a massive disaster?”:
Even if our business continuity is hindered by a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, or by some dangerous infectious disease which is highly contagious and could cause a serious medical condition, we have a documented response plan and have implemented various proactive measures so that we can restore operations as quickly as possible.
If a disaster occurs, we will convene a disaster response committee, headed by the president, that will act to confirm the safety of our employees, protect the integrity of company property, and secure personnel and communication systems for the recovery effort. In the realm of our development activities, backups are regularly made for critical information like the data for games currently in development. This allows us to restore the data as soon as possible should something happen. In manufacturing, we try to reduce overall risk by dispersing operations among multiple subcontractors wherever possible. This will allow us to mitigate the impact to manufacturing and procurement of materials in case a manufacturing partner’s facility is damaged.
With regard to individual business operations, we have always been working to ensure the smooth continuity of business by constantly reviewing our priorities in case of an emergency and by preparing action plans for each department during normal times. We also undertake disaster response training as needed.
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