2024-01-26T12:51:27+00:00
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/ On Friday, the Japanese government estimated the losses of the earthquake that struck the country this New Year at about 16 billion euros, and it is likely that the amount will rise to more than that.
An earthquake struck central Japan on January 1, killing more than 230 people.
This assessment includes damage to buildings and infrastructure (roads, airports, networks) in the most affected prefecture of Ishikawa, as well as in neighboring Toyama and Niigata prefectures.
A government official confirmed to Agence France-Presse today that the range of cost figures is still very wide “because we are still in the process of assessing the damage,” explaining that this report was presented Thursday during a cabinet meeting.
This official estimate of between 1,100 and 2,600 billion yen exceeds preliminary partial damage calculations determined by the private sector at the beginning of this January.
However, it is expected that the total cost of the earthquake will be much less than that caused by the devastating earthquake accompanied by the tsunami that struck northeastern Japan in 2011, and the Japanese government estimated at the time that it caused losses amounting to about 16,900 billion yen, which was equivalent to 147 billion euros at the time.
This assessment did not take into account the disruptions to economic activity, nor the Fukushima nuclear accident caused by the tsunami, which caused costs (from environmental decontamination work, dismantling the plant over several decades, and compensation for evacuees) that could ultimately reach hundreds of billions of euros. .
In addition, yesterday, Thursday, the Japanese government put the final touches on immediate measures to improve the living conditions of people who were evacuated after the earthquake of January 1, rebuild the affected areas and stimulate tourism in the region.
Japan witnesses hundreds of earthquakes every year, although most of them do not cause damage due to strict building rules imposed for decades.
But there are many old buildings, especially in rural areas such as the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, the epicenter of the January 1 earthquake.