Japan to provide $500,000 in emergency aid to quake-hit New Zealand

TOKYO, Feb. 25 Kyodo -
The Japanese government decided Friday to provide $500,000 in emergency grant aid to the New Zealand Red Cross to help it cope with the aftermath of the recent deadly earthquake that hit the country's second largest city of Christchurch.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet also agreed that Japan will respond swiftly to any request from the New Zealand government for additional support.
''I expect you to make efforts with a stronger sense of urgency,'' Kan said at a meeting of the government's taskforce on the disaster as rescue workers, including those from Japan and many other countries, race against the clock to save lives.
To further assist New Zealand, Japan is considering sending heavy equipment to help lift away some of the mangled wreckage, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama told reporters after the taskforce meeting, whose participants also included Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.
''We are exploring a range of possibilities and if there are things that would fit the needs (of New Zealand), we can send them at any time,'' Fukuyama said.
Local police said the death toll from Tuesday's magnitude 6.3 quake has reached 113, while around 200 people are listed as missing, including more than two dozen Japanese nationals.
Maehara said Japan will send two psychiatrists to New Zealand to counsel those affected by the quake and their families. At present, about 40 family members have arrived in Christchurch from Japan.
''Unfortunately, no (Japanese) survivor has been discovered yet. I assume the families have been in extreme anguish,'' Maehara said.
He added that the family members have tried to get close to the site of a building where many Japanese students of an English language school are believed to be trapped, and were frustrated that they were not allowed to approach the site due to the danger of aftershocks.
In addition to the dispatch of the two doctors, the Japanese Foreign Ministry has launched support teams for the quake victims' families both in Tokyo and Christchurch.