$49bn Emergency Earthquake Relief Grants In Japan's Budget

By MALILA Harris
April 03, 2011

JAPAN NEWS - Japan has witnessed a heavy damage following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Considering the emergency need of the country, the parliament has passed a whooping 4tn yen ($49bn, £30bn) emergency budget for resetting the whole region. The bill was passed by the lower house Saturday and consequently passed by the upper house budget committee early on Monday.

The bill is believed to help greatly for housing reconstruction for those who lost their homes. The bill also aims to support businesses hit by the natural carnage.

According to a data prepared by Japanese police, 14,704 people are died in the disaster and another 10,969 remain missing.

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda expressed his ministry to further raise the budget allocation in coming months. Analysts have predicted that the disaster cost Japan about $300bn.

The budget has also affected on regular funds like pension, child allowances and motorway tolls, which have been cut down to increase the emergency fund.

The good news is the opposition poses no threat to government but the problem will come for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government in near future when the government will have to push high it taxes and to secure reconstruction funds using the borrowed fund. It is reported that Japan has already a debt burden twice the size of its economy.

On the other hand, prime minister have been severely criticized for lagging rehabilitation of people and failure to restore power and supply in the region.

Fukushima nuclear reactor had been crippled after the earthquake damaged the cooling systems to the reactors. Work is still continuing to repair the systems, water being poured into reactors to cool fuel rods, but this would lead to contaminated waste water leaking from the reactor buildings.

It is estimated nine months to bring the plant fully under control.

Japan Tremor Trembles Asian Economy

By ETHAN Markoff

A massive disaster not only ruins the place of occurrence but evidently affects the neighboring lands, and in a few cases, spreading across the global pitch. Since the devastation in Japan almost a week back, the economic consequences have already been felt across Asia. The destructions from the natural calamity have been huge and the country is still recuperating from the damages. While the efforts to restore the normalcy continue, the economic backlash on various sectors and industries has created ripples in the economic world.

Countries that export energy and raw materials could find it difficult now as the demand is low Japan. On the flip side, there are others who are depended on Japan for manufacturing components will be revitalizing themselves for shortages in supply.

As for example, Japan is the biggest rival of South Korean companies, who, in the short-term are already gaining from the shutdown in manufacturing in Japan.

"In terms of semiconductors, auto and steel companies, South Korean and Japanese companies are competitors," said Huh Jae-hwan from Daewoo Securities in Seoul.

He said due to unable to meet the demand and orders, the whole flow would be moved to the next biggest Korean manufacturers.

Nevertheless, the benefits will only continue as long as the situation in Japan does not manufacturing raw materials that it used to supply.

The neighboring Chinese electronic industry is likely to be affected by the disruption in supply. It is noted that Japan is China’s biggest source of imports almost adding 13% of its import.

Utilizing the raw components to assemble intro final products, China exports its products around the globe.

Not only the electronic products (The price of a Nikon camera has jumped already by 2,000 yuan), but also the essential commodities prices have already risen in China because of demand in Japan.

Taiwan is facing a similar kind of situation as the electronic manufacturers in the country could suffer as their raw materials are mostly imported from Japan.

Australia and Indonesia are proved to be the best source for thermal coal, iron ore and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Japan’s main concern is now the acute power shortages and as in immediate future, when the construction and rebuilding will begin, the countries like Australia and Indonesia will stand to gain further.

The rising economic country like India will face the music in a more indirect way. Japan is the major source of foreign direct investment into the country and considered as a long-term investor. If the Japanese economy is in jeopardy, the long-term investment into India could also suffer.

2011 Japan Earthquake Person Finder

By EDITOR

Are you looking for someone missing after the massive earthquake in Japan that triggered tsunami, or else you have information about someone? Please submit related information in the below box and help those who are really in need of such database of missing people. Make sure the data entered in the relevant place, which will be available to the public and it can be viewed by anyone. The data entered is neither verified or reviewed for its accuracy.



For any emergency help, call the below given numbers and format. It is local Japan emergency dials:

171 + 1 + line phone number to leave a message
171 + 2 + line phone number to listen to the message

On Friday (March 11) a 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Northeastern part of Japan at around 2.46 p.m. local time that caused damages, fire and tsunami. More to this, the powerful earthquake has triggered a tsunami warning for few other countries around the Pacific ocean such as Marcus Island, Russia, Northern Marianas, Philippines, Indonesia, Guam, Taiwan and Hawaii.

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Japan Earthquake Tsunami Affected People Finder And Nuclear Radiation Information
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