‘We Will Rebuild Japan Once Again’ – Japanese PM
By KUNA
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday urged the public to jointly overcome what he calls Japan’s worst crisis in the postwar period and rebuild the disaster-hit country.
In a nationally televised address a week after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit the northeastern and eastern Japan, Kan told the public, “Japan is facing a serious crisis now and we are tested. We shouldn’t be discouraged by this earthquake and tsunami”.
“Japan has been called a small island country, but we had built the country and achieved a miraculous economic recovery with the power of the people after the war,” the premier asserted.
“Let’s stand up to this tragedy together with a spirit of rebuilding Japan one more time. We will definitely overcome this crisis”.
Kan also praised and thanked the public for acting calmly and helping each other following the March 11 devastating quake and tsunami that left 6,911 people dead and more than 10,000 people missing as of Friday.
While admitting Japan is still facing huge difficulties in tackling the problems at the disaster-hit Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, Kan voiced confidence that they will be resolved in the near future.
He also stressed that the government has disclosed all the information it knows on the accident at the Fukushima plant located 230 km north of Tokyo. “We have been honestly saying that the situation with the nuclear plant accident remains very serious, ” said Kan.
The nation desperately continued emergency operations to cool down a damaged reactor’s spent fuel storage pool at the Fukushima plant in hopes of averting a catastrophic radiation leak, while vital infrastructure in the quake-hit areas was gradually being restored.
