Japan quake, tsunami could cost 25 trillion yen

Tokyo - The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that rocked north-eastern Japan caused up to 25 trillion yen (309 billion dollars) in damage, the government said Wednesday.

The government estimated 16 trillion to 25 trillion yen in direct damage to houses, factories and social infrastructure from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The estimated cost of the March 11 disaster was much larger than the 9.6-trillionyen loss from the 1995 Kobe earthquake in western Japan, which killed more than 6,400 people, and was not followed by a tsunami. The government also expected the economy to contract by up to 0.5 per cent.

The confirmed death toll stood at 9,408 at noon Wednesday (0300 GMT) with 14,716 missing, the National Police Agency said. The death toll is expected to climb much higher. The tremor and subsequent tsunami damaged 1,450 roads and 51 bridges and triggered 120 landslides, the agency said.

click to enlarge LIGHTS ON: picture by Japanese Fukushima nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on 23 March shows the central control room of TEPCO’s Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture, after the lighting was recovered. TEPCO has asked major Japanese banks to lend it as much as 2 trillion yen (24.7 billion US dollars) to deal with problems at its nuclear plant. © EPA/TEPCO/AFP PHOTO