posted on Mar, 1 2009 @ 03:08 PM
www.thejakartaglobe.com...
Panasonic Recalls Families Over Bird Flu Fears
Panasonic Corporation has ordered Japanese employees in some foreign countries to send their families home to Japan in preparation for a possible bird
flu pandemic, a spokesman said.
Family members of Japanese employees in parts of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Russia, former Soviet states and Latin America will fly back to Japan
by the end of September, Panasonic spokesman Akira Kadota said.
The firm decided to take the rare measure “well ahead of possible confusion at the outbreak of a global pandemic.”
“The bird flu cases reported so far are infections from bird to human, but once an infection between human beings is reported, things can get
chaotic, with many other companies trying to bring back their employees,” Kadota said.
“We wanted to take action early before it gets difficult to book flight tickets,” he said. The company did not say how many family members would
return to Japan. Employees and their families in North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore will not be affected.
A spokesperson for PT Panasonic Gobel Indonesia said no families would be affected in Indonesia.
Panasonic said last week it was cutting 15,000 jobs and closing dozens of plants worldwide as it braces to fall deep in the red due to the global
economic crisis.
AFP, JG
Anyone else think that is weird???