It has been exactly one month since the massive 9.0 earthquake and resulting devasting tusnami hit Japan.
People across the country were expected to pause at 2:46pm, local time, the moment Japan's biggest ever recorded earthquake struck, setting off a chain of events that has left workers scrambling to tame problems in atomic reactors.
With around 13,000 people known to have died and 15,000 still officially listed as missing, it is the worst tragedy to envelop the country since World War II.
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One month since hundreds of thousands of lives were literally torn apart.
About Local governments of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima have requested construction of 62,000 temporary houses, NHK reported, citing the Land Ministry. Construction is underway on 7,800 houses, the ministry said. But that is only 13 per cent of the number requested, NHK reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Sunday paid a brief visit to a fishing port hit hard by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and promised that his government would build 70,000 temporary homes. 150,000 people are still living in emergency shelters.
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'Japan's economy is suddenly in a severe condition due to the effects of the earthquake,''
said the Cabinet Office after releasing a survey of hotel and restaurant staff and taxi drivers, showing a record fall in confidence to levels last seen during the depths of the global financial crisis.
In an obvious sign of the downturn, taxis park in long lines in central Tokyo each night, their drivers staying warm by idling the motor as they wait forlornly for a fare.
Power blackouts and restrictions, factory shutdowns, and a sharp drop in tourists have hit the world's most indebted nation, which is facing a damages bill as high as $300 billion, making it by far the world's costliest natural disaster.
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Let us not forget that they are still suffering there in Japan.
THE FIRST NIGHT
I clasped my hands around the trunk;
smells of dark
sea water and dirt; no lights, no
neighbors. My husband’s cold
hand rubbed my cheeks.
When the tsunami
covered the village, the neighbors
drove up the hill; a long
snaking trail of taillights to the safe place.
Let’s leave our car…
and then the tsunami dragged
and trundled the cars.....like tumble
weeds in an endless water desert. I closed
my eyes. The seat-belt bit my lungs.
.....Sudden stop; a branch
caught our car. We climbed up the tree.
Several cluttered waves washed away the car.
In the morning, we saw a police
car on the intact bridge. Our voice
disappeared into the shining
black sea water. I saw
a girl’s shoe drifting away from us.
I want to live.
My husband started
waving his scarf into the gray sky.
.....A helicopter appeared. It dropped
a rope like a spider thread.
Naoko Fujimoto