The Philippine ambassador to Japan, Manuel Lopez, told the media that of the more than 4,500 Filipinos in the badly-hit Tohoku region, only 20 had so far verified of their safety after the great earthquake on 11 March.
The Philippine Star said, most of those who confirmed came from a port city in the Miyagi Prefecture--Sendai City--a severely damaged area in the northeastern part of the country.
The reason for the slow turn out of the Filipinos was due to difficulty in communication since most telephone lines are still down and experience power outage.
The Filipino emissary said, "The most reliable communication service that we have is the Internet."
Lopez added that the 30 Filipino sailors who were rescued by the Japan coast guard are waiting for their flight back to Manila.
Meanwhile, dzMM said that the French and US governments issued travel bans to Japan, and advised their citizens to leave the capital city.
In other reports, a volcano in southwestern region erupted releasing ashes at 4 kilometers in the air. Authorities raised volcano alert to 3 (maximum of 5).
Leading Japanese car makers such as Honda, Nissan and Toyota halted auto production all over the country.
The AP said that three people hurt and seven were missing after a plant of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. exploded today.
According to a Rey Ian Corpuz in Tokyo, "The good thing about Japan is that whether there is a crisis or none, they don't jack up prices unlike the Philippines."
Details of this report here.
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