ID :
170340
Wed, 03/23/2011 - 18:02
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/170340
The shortlink copeid
Gov't to support children orphaned by quake, tsunami
TOKYO, March 23 Kyodo - The welfare ministry decided Wednesday to find out how many children lost their parents in the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan and to support them by dispatching caseworkers to the afflicted areas, ministry officials said.
While it is estimated that more than 100 children became orphans as a result of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, ''the latest disaster has caused wide-scale damage and we are concerned that a greater number of children have lost their parents,'' a Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry official said.
Municipal governments on the coast severely damaged by the quake-triggered tsunami have lost the ability to function properly and are incapable at present of checking the situation regarding orphaned minors, according to the ministry.
Around 400 experts at 55 local governments have applied to be dispatched, but it will take time to fully launch the mission and find care homes or foster parents for such children due to damage to transport links and a fuel shortage, a ministry official said.
The National Police Agency said, meanwhile, the number of dead or unaccounted for following the March 11 disaster topped 25,000 as of 9 p.m. -- 9,487 dead and 15,617 missing, making it the biggest natural disaster since the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, which is believed to have resulted in 105,000 deaths.
Autopsies have been completed on around 8,990 recovered bodies, of which 5,770 have been identified and 5,210 returned to their families, the NPA said.
The number of people who died suddenly or of chronic diseases after evacuation reached a total of 35 in Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures, a Kyodo News survey showed Wednesday.
As it is feared that the death toll will increase due to prolonged stays in evacuation centers, authorities could be forced to take immediate measures, such as offering sufficient relief goods to evacuees.
Separately, 20 people died between March 14 and March 21 at a nursing-care and healthcare facility for the elderly in Ofunato, a coastal city in Iwate Prefecture, its officials said.
While some of them were elderly people transferred from another facility hit by the quake, the causal relationship between the deaths and the earthquake remains uncertain, the officials said.
Elsewhere, the police sent 120 uniformed officers and 50 patrol cars from seven prefectural police headquarters to quake-hit Iwate and Fukushima prefectures on Wednesday to tackle crime.
In Miyagi, another severely damaged prefecture, 63 officers from Tokyo and Saitama have already been deployed.
In Kesennuma, Miyagi, 40 million yen in cash was stolen from a credit union building damaged by the tsunami.
Meanwhile, Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai said Wednesday the local government will start building around 1,000 units of temporary housing by the end of this month as the first construction in the severely hit prefecture.
The coastal municipalities damaged by tsunami waves will be given priority in the project and families with elderly, handicapped or pregnant members as well as babies will be accommodated first.
Also on Wednesday, several strong quakes, believed to be aftershocks of the deadly quake, jolted Fukushima Prefecture and its vicinity, although nuclear power plants there were not damaged and ongoing restoration work at a crisis-hit plant was not hindered.
Three of the quakes measured upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Fukushima on Wednesday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Still, a part of Ishinomaki port in Miyagi Prefecture was restored on Wednesday, resulting in the full or partial resumption of all ports and harbors in the Tohoku region.
While it is estimated that more than 100 children became orphans as a result of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, ''the latest disaster has caused wide-scale damage and we are concerned that a greater number of children have lost their parents,'' a Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry official said.
Municipal governments on the coast severely damaged by the quake-triggered tsunami have lost the ability to function properly and are incapable at present of checking the situation regarding orphaned minors, according to the ministry.
Around 400 experts at 55 local governments have applied to be dispatched, but it will take time to fully launch the mission and find care homes or foster parents for such children due to damage to transport links and a fuel shortage, a ministry official said.
The National Police Agency said, meanwhile, the number of dead or unaccounted for following the March 11 disaster topped 25,000 as of 9 p.m. -- 9,487 dead and 15,617 missing, making it the biggest natural disaster since the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, which is believed to have resulted in 105,000 deaths.
Autopsies have been completed on around 8,990 recovered bodies, of which 5,770 have been identified and 5,210 returned to their families, the NPA said.
The number of people who died suddenly or of chronic diseases after evacuation reached a total of 35 in Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures, a Kyodo News survey showed Wednesday.
As it is feared that the death toll will increase due to prolonged stays in evacuation centers, authorities could be forced to take immediate measures, such as offering sufficient relief goods to evacuees.
Separately, 20 people died between March 14 and March 21 at a nursing-care and healthcare facility for the elderly in Ofunato, a coastal city in Iwate Prefecture, its officials said.
While some of them were elderly people transferred from another facility hit by the quake, the causal relationship between the deaths and the earthquake remains uncertain, the officials said.
Elsewhere, the police sent 120 uniformed officers and 50 patrol cars from seven prefectural police headquarters to quake-hit Iwate and Fukushima prefectures on Wednesday to tackle crime.
In Miyagi, another severely damaged prefecture, 63 officers from Tokyo and Saitama have already been deployed.
In Kesennuma, Miyagi, 40 million yen in cash was stolen from a credit union building damaged by the tsunami.
Meanwhile, Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai said Wednesday the local government will start building around 1,000 units of temporary housing by the end of this month as the first construction in the severely hit prefecture.
The coastal municipalities damaged by tsunami waves will be given priority in the project and families with elderly, handicapped or pregnant members as well as babies will be accommodated first.
Also on Wednesday, several strong quakes, believed to be aftershocks of the deadly quake, jolted Fukushima Prefecture and its vicinity, although nuclear power plants there were not damaged and ongoing restoration work at a crisis-hit plant was not hindered.
Three of the quakes measured upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Fukushima on Wednesday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Still, a part of Ishinomaki port in Miyagi Prefecture was restored on Wednesday, resulting in the full or partial resumption of all ports and harbors in the Tohoku region.
