Reports that Japan rejected Taiwan’s offer of aid after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake on Monday struck the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture are untrue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The National Fire Agency on Monday night completed mobilization of 160 search-and-rescue personnel to depart for Japan if required.
The ministry notified Japan of its preparedness and expressed its willingness to help.
Photo: Reuters
However, Tokyo had deployed thousands of Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel and would consider accepting foreign assistance depending on the situation, the ministry said.
Online rumors saying that Japan “rejected” Taiwan’s help were inappropriate and “inconsistent” with the actual communication between the two governments, it said.
Taiwan “fully understands and respects” the plans of the Japanese government and maintains close contact with Japan to provide any assistance as needed, it said.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday told a news conference that dozens of countries and regions around the globe — including Taiwan, the US, other NATO countries and China — had expressed their condolences and offered to assist after the earthquake.
While feeling deeply grateful for the offers, Japan was not planning to accept any human or material support from other countries for the time being, but only support that would not affect its rescue system on site, Kishida said, citing Taiwan’s donation of ￥60 million (US$413,009) as an example.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi yesterday told a news conference that Japan would cooperate closely with US troops in Japan according to the damage and needs of earthquake-stricken areas.
US Department of Defense spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder on Thursday said that “our military forces in Japan are ready to assist as needed,” adding that the forces were “in regular contact with the government of Japan to discuss how we might help.”
The Japan Self-Defense Forces were fully engaged in immediate rescue missions on site, so it would be difficult for them to quickly establish a collaborative structure alongside foreign support, the Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday.
The US military launched its Operation Tomodachi in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and set up a joint coordination center with Japan to cooperate on transporting supplies and other missions after the Kumamoto earthquake in 2016, the newspaper said.
The Self-Defense Forces had mobilized 10,000 troops by Tuesday to help with the rescue efforts and had dispatched about 5,000 troops to the affected areas by Thursday, the paper said.
As of yesterday, about 33,000 people had been evacuated to about 370 evacuation centers in Ishikawa Prefecture, it said, adding that about 27,000 homes were without electricity due to the quake, while about 68,000 houses in 14 cities and towns had no water supply.
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