Nikita Mikhalkov: Earthquake in Japan - the punishment of God

[Евгений]

Dangerous situation around the crumbling nuclear power plant in Fukushima overshadowed the other consequences of the terrible earthquake and tsunami on 11 March. We are talking about the victims, whose number continues to grow with each passing day. So, the list of dead and missing have appear for more than 16 thousand people, ITAR-TASS, referring to the General Police Directorate of the country.
According to him, as in the first half set on Friday the death of nearly 6,500 people. Missing are nearly 10,300 residents of affected areas. Around 400,000 people were forced from their homes - mainly because of the tsunami threat.

Refugees and people made homeless have been attributed to temporary shelters, under equipped school gyms, community centers, Buddhist temples. Many of these premises are not heated, although in some areas the temperature drops at night to 0 degrees.

Reuters adds that in the affected areas without electricity and heating are 850,000 homes. The total damage from natural hazards and man-made disaster in Japan, according to rough estimates, ranging from 10 to 16 trillion yen (125 to 200 billion dollars). This one and a half times more than the economic losses from the earthquake in the Japanese city of Kobe in 1995, which killed over 5,000 people.

Crematorium lack of fuel. Authorities can change the rules of burial

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference in Tokyo that the affected areas of the country is not enough fuel for the crematoria. In this regard, the Government has ordered "maximum flexibility" approach to burying the dead, in particular, use is not accepted in the country in the burial ground.

ITAR-TASS news agency, shortage of fuel creates health problems, since the number of properly equipped mortuaries are also limited. In the latter, incidentally, had previously complained about the lack of ice.

In Japan, the common Buddhist cremation ceremony. Burial in the land has previously been used very rarely, mostly at the funeral of the national religion of Shinto priests. This ritual, by law, is conducted with the permission of local authorities. In some towns and villages buried in the ground is prohibited. However, Edano said that "if they need additional measures, we think even about changing the law."