Japan quake damage to cost up to $309 bn: govt

OSAKA (AFP) – Japan on Wednesday said the cost of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami could hit 25 trillion yen ($309 billion), double the Kobe quake and nearly four times more than Hurricane Katrina.

The total cost from collapse or damage to houses, factories and infrastructure such as roads and bridges was estimated at 16 to 25 trillion yen over the next three fiscal years, the Cabinet Office said.

The estimate does not account for wider issues such as how radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant crippled by the quake will affect food and water supply, amid a deepening food scare.

Even so, with the cost of the destruction set to push down growth in the coming fiscal year, the upper estimate would put the disaster's monetary impact at more than double the 9.6 trillion yen of the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

The damage could hit Japan's growth by as much as 0.5 percent, although economists expect Japan's biggest reconstruction effort since World War II to give the economy a lift in the second half.

Read more:     http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110323/wl_asia_afp/japanquakeeconomyaccidentnuclear

・Here are the latest reports on the quake victims in Japan.  
http://hearthevoicefromjapan.blogspot.com/

How can we help?

・Save the Children, Japan quake victim
www.savethechildren.org/japanquake

・Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support Website

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Japan-Earthquake-Animal-Rescue-and-Support/207835229228979
OR;
http://japanearthquakeanimalrelief.chipin.com/japan-earthquake-animal-rescue-and-support/

・Japanese Red Cross
http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/relief/l4/Vcms4_00002070.html