Japan's new premier vows to speed up reconstruction efforts

[News_Editor]

Japan's new premier vows to speed up reconstruction efforts

2011-09-03 07:10:51 GMT+7 (ICT)

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- New Japense Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday said his top priorities are to speed up recovery from the earthquake and tsunami, and work to contain the nuclear accident in Fukushima, NHK Television reported.

Noda told reporters that the biggest mission of his Cabinet, which was launched on Friday, will be to speed up restoration and reconstruction of the areas damaged by the disaster. He said that although the previous government did its best, it was accused of not doing enough to build temporary housing, clean up debris and support survivors.

The new premier also said the decontamination of wide areas affected by the nuclear accident in Fukushima was necessary and promised that the government will do all it can to ensure the safety of pregnant women and children. He said there will be no revival of Japan without the revival of Fukushima.



Noda, who was the finance minister under his predecessor Naoto Kan's government, also pledged to rebuild the economy and tackle Japan's fiscal crisis. He said he will rebuild the economy despite the limitations of energy supplies and added that the government will promote administrative reforms to reduce wasteful spending.

Kan resigned on August 26 after almost 15 months in office amid sinking approval ratings and criticism of his leadership after the March 11 disaster that delayed important legislation needed to help the victims.

Japan has been facing an ongoing nuclear crisis since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was severely damaged on March 11 when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami devastated the country. At least 23,482 people were killed, while 8,069 people remain missing.

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