Tokyo, April 18: Most Japanese want a new prime minister to lead the massive rebuilding needed after last month’s earthquake and tsunami, newspaper polls showed on Monday, as the head of government was again scolded in parliament for his handling of the disaster.
Japan is also struggling to bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control after it was damaged by the March 11 natural disasters and began leaking radiation, a process that could take the rest of the year.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said Sunday it hoped to achieve a cold shutdown to make the reactors stable within six to nine months.
Full recovery could take even longer, the government has said, while rebuilding the shattered northeastern coast has yet to begin.
The cost of material damages alone from the quake and tsunami has been estimated at $300 billion, making it the world’s most costly natural disaster. More than 13,000 people have been confirmed dead, and tens of thousands made homeless.
Nearly 70 percent of people surveyed by the Nikkei business daily said Prime Minister Naoto Kan should be replaced, and a similar number said the government’s response to the nuclear crisis was not acceptable.
Kan was criticized again in parliament Monday for his response to the nuclear disaster, with an opposition lawmaker suggesting he had been ill-prepared from the start, pointing to Kan’s admission that he could not recall the details of a drill last year that simulated a Fukushima-type incident.
“Prime Minister Kan is working hard, and he must be experiencing difficulties. But many people have questions about Prime Minister Kan’s leadership. Perhaps the premier himself thinks he has leadership, but unfortunately … 70 to 80 percent (of respondents to public opinion polls) say … (he) lacks leadership,” opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker Masashi Waki told the upper house budget committee.
Kan has been derided for what many see as failure to lead.
“Japan has experienced many crises in the past, but I believe this is the biggest crisis in the 65 years since the end of World War Two,” he told a parliamentary panel Monday.
“From now on … we must persist with our strategy on two fronts, and I want to make every effort on both issues (recovery and the nuclear crisis).”
The government hopes to avoid issuing new bonds to fund an initial emergency budget, expected to be worth about 4 trillion yen ($48 billion), due to be compiled this month.
But bond issuance is likely for subsequent extra budgets and markets are worried that post-quake rebuilding may hamper Japan’s efforts to rein in its debt, which already stands at twice the size of its $5 trillion economy.
“It is no doubt that a substantial amount of revenue sources will be needed for reconstruction,” Japan’s deputy finance minister Fumihiko Igarashi said Monday.
“I want to ask the people to share burdens broadly. While we review every spending and revenue to raise funds, everyone needs to share the pain.”
–Agencies