Kyoto Animation Gives Update on Victim Donations and Suspect's Condition

Shortly after the tragic fire of Kyoto Animation's 1st Studio building earlier this year, fans and industry veterans alike sent their support from all over the world. With so many inquiries as to where fans could donate money to help the prominent studio recover from this crisis, Kyoto Animation set up a special direct account for these donations and have since accrued over 3.2 billion yen ($29.6 million USD) in donations. Now Kyoto Animation has revealed their initial plans as to how they will be allocating this donated money for those in need.

According to a report from Japanese news site Jiji (as noted by SoraNews24), Kyoto Animation will not be using this donation money to recover the business but instead will be using it directly for the victim and families impacted by the tragic arson.

Kyoto Animation will be distributing shares of the donations for surviving victims impacted by the fire in a lump sum payment, rather than smaller installments. Taking into account the specific circumstances for each individual, rather than have a blanket sum for each person, Kyoto Animation's process will have them meet with the bereaved families and take into account how much each family has been affected financially from either the employee's death or injury.

Although much of the studio has returned to work, the fire has since claimed the lives of over 30 individuals. It's going to be a long recovery process, and this is especially true for the suspect behind the arson as well. Kyodo News reports that the suspect behind the arson has since transferred to a new hospital in Kyoto after undergoing multiple skin grafts.

Police plan to arrest the individual following their recovery, but the timing of cede arrest is unclear as there's a period of rehabilitation needed so that the suspect can actually withstand detention without their condition getting worse. Police have since obtained a warrant for the suspect's arrest, but are waiting for more information.

On July 18th at around 10:30 AM JST, Kyoto Animation's 1st Studio was struck by a tragic fire. Reports indicated that the fire has resulted in over 30 casualties, and over 30 injured as of this writing. With 30 fire engines responding to the fire, firefighters were able to completely extinguish the fire five hours after in began. The fire was investigated as an arson, and the suspect responsible has reportedly been identified and their potential motive has been revealed. Kyoto Animation president Hideaki Hatta is also considering erecting a memorial park in the place of the tragedy.

via SoraNews24, Kyodo News