Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)

Japan is currently responding to the largest emergency in its post-war history as it tackles not only the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami which struck the country on 11 March, but also a nuclear crisis. We have all been deeply shocked and saddened by these events and I join the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in expressing our sympathies to the Japanese Government and people.

At magnitude 9 on the Richter scale, the earthquake was one of the biggest ever recorded, triggering a tsunami which washed away entire towns and villages. Thousands of people have been confirmed dead, with many thousands more missing. The Japanese Government is also dealing with the resulting crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

In the hours following the earthquake and tsunami, the Government placed the Irish Aid Rapid Response Corps on standby to deploy to the region. The corps is made up of highly-skilled individuals with the type of knowledge and experience that is most required during a humanitarian emergency. In addition, we informed the Japanese authorities we would make available our emergency stockpiles in Subang, Malaysia. These comprise emergency shelters, blankets and water and sanitation equipment and provide a basic infrastructure to those who have lost their homes.

Although Japan is probably the best equipped country in the world to deal with this kind of disaster, its response capacity has been pushed to the limit. Consequently, it appealed last week to the EU and its member states for help. The Government responded by providing €1 million to the Japanese Red Cross for relief to people left injured or homeless by the disaster. Through Irish Aid and our embassy in Tokyo, the Government is in close contact with the Japanese authorities, the EU and the United Nations, which is helping to co-ordinate the international relief effort. We will continue these efforts in the days and weeks ahead.

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