World reaches out to Japan

More than 70 countries have offered to help in rescue effort

TOKYO - Rescue workers from more than a dozen countries searched ravaged northeastern coastal cities on Monday for survivors of a massive earthquake and tsunami, as an international effort to help Japan cope with its multiple disasters gathered pace.

Some 70 countries have offered assistance in an outpouring of solidarity with Japan, with help coming from countries like the United States and China, and even from the Afghan city of Kandahar.

"We have offered our Japanese friends whatever assistance is needed, as America will stand with Japan as they recover and rebuild," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

He said two US urban search and rescue teams, with 144 staff and 12 dogs, had begun work at first light on Monday looking for people trapped in the rubble in buildings flattened by the tsunami that followed Friday's magnitude-9 quake.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) sent a message of sympathy to Japan on Monday over the catastrophe, the official news agency KCNA reported.

Jang Jae-on, chairman of the DPRK Red Cross Society, said in the message that he extended deep sympathy and consolation to the victims and their families on behalf of the DPRK Red Cross Society.

Jang said he hoped the victims' lives would return to normal as soon as possible.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) said a 102-member rescue team departed for Japan on Monday aboard three air force C-130 planes. An advance team of five ROK rescue workers and two search dogs have been in Japan since Saturday.

Indonesia, hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami in 2004 that killed more than 165,000 in Sumatra and more than 225,000 around the Indian Ocean, said it was committed to sending aid to Japan.

"We are ready to help, and we have offered them. We are discussing what Japan needs now and ways to send it, but our aid, including medical and relief team are at the ready," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kusuma Habir.

The southern Afghan city of Kandahar announced it was donating $50,000 to the "brothers and sisters" of Japan.

"I know $50,000 is not a lot of money for a country like Japan, but it is a show of appreciation from the Kandahar people," Mayor Ghulam Haidar Hamidi said.

At least a dozen countries have deployed rescue teams, the United Nations said, but conditions in the worst-hit areas remained extremely difficult.

"Rescue and relief operations are being hampered by continuous aftershocks, tsunami alerts and fires. Many areas along the northeast coast remain isolated and unreachable," a UN statement said.

The United Kingdom has sent fire brigade search and rescue specialists and equipment including heavy lifting and cutting equipment, and said it would send nuclear physicists if requested. Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said it had offered to help in responding to the problems at Japanese nuclear plants if necessary. Russia sent 75 rescuers on Sunday to work in quake-affected areas, the Emergencies Ministry said.

Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 03/15/2011 page12)