Japanese tsunami victims reunited with their cash and valuables

Yen equivalent of £29m has been found and returned to its owners since tidal wave disaster After the waves tore into their homes and sent them fleeing for their lives, many of the survivors of Japan’s tsunami must have thought they had lost everything. Yet in the months since the 11 March disaster thousands of people have been reunited with cash totalling 3.7bn yen (£29m), along with other valuables. Of the 2.36bn yen retrieved from 5,700 safes, all found in the three worst affected prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, 96% had been returned to its owners by mid-July, according to the national police agency. In addition, 1.3bn yen in loose cash has been recovered from handbags and purses, along with credit cards. Police said about 85% had been returned to its rightful owners, adding that the hunt would continue until all of the money had been accounted for. It is scant consolation, given the loss of homes and livelihoods, but the return of piles of cash points to a desire to do the right thing, despite the hardship that continues to blight life for tens of thousands of people along the devastated Tohoku coast. While most of the private and company safes were found by police and troops searching for survivors, others were handed in by members of the public. About 900 safes – which are common in Japanese households, offices and workshops – were returned in the city of Kamaishi alone. One, retrieved from Ishinomaki, contained 100m yen and has been given to its owner. Police have attributed the unusually large number of safes to a preference for cash transactions among fishermen, who make up a large portion of the population affected by the disaster. Many safes also contained the documents that businesses will need to rebuild: bank books, stock certificates, land rights deeds, and gold bars and other precious metals. The grateful recipients include Torazo Chiba, a 65-year-old resident of Iwate prefecture, who was recently reunited with a safe containing cash and his treasured radio operator’s licence. Looking at an old photograph of himself on the licence, Chiba, whose home was washed away by the tsunami, told the Yomiuri Shimbun: “This has inspired me to try hard again, like I did back then.” Japan disaster Japan Natural disasters and extreme weather Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 18, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.