Originally posted by thibs
It may be usual or not in these cases but I'm not sure old Pentax or HoyTax would done this.
Anyway it is nice. It clears question as to manufacturing capabilities and it is also, although distant, nice couple words for those who've been injured (or worse) but the earthquake.
+1 I'll say

It is usual to do such things in such circumstances indeed, however, the way different corporations do it varies a lot from one corp to another. Some only issue cold, impersonal press releases while some take the time to communicate in a humane, caring manner, and Ricoh is indeed one of these companies.
The Ricoh Corp. seems to be a very well managed, people-concerned company (well, compared to many others, that is).
I'm not entirely surprise by this, but I'm pleased to see they had the courtesy of informing people about the whereabouts of their employees and the condition of their plant in the aftermath of the earthquake and to reply to those who had the courtesy to ask about this in the first place.
That kind of attitude is what I'm looking for in a responsible corporation today. I'd rather support a corporation that tries its best to be the most ethical, environment-friendly and financially transparent possible than a company that focuses only on its quarterly and financial year results. Ricoh seems to belong to the first kind, and it's good to see the Pentax name is now in such good hands. That's called responsible capitalism, and people will be looking for that more and more in the future (just look back at the 2008 toxic mortgage nightmare in the U.S. if you want to see some irresponsible capitalism at work).
If Ricoh / Pentax product buyers manifest their enthusiasm about their brand and its ethical conduct, I'm sure the brand would benefit from that, and would gain a lot of new customers just because of its ethical attitude (not that the other photo brands aren't ethical, but Ricoh seems to be on top of its game at that, at least from what I could see so far — and I've been following Ricoh closely since they bought Pentax).
So spread the word about Ricoh if you think they deserve the praise.