Japan has not immediately taken up Switzerland’s offer of a rescue team after Friday’s devastating earthquake.
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The spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told Swiss television on Friday evening that although Japan had received offers from 68 search and rescue teams, initially it had accepted only those from the US, New Zealand, Australia and South Korea.
Earlier on Friday the Swiss government had spoken of its “dismay” on hearing of the disaster, and expressed his condolences to the Japanese government and people.
A foreign ministry statement said that the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit was standing by to send a team of experts to Japan, and was also monitoring the impact on other countries of the tsunami triggered by the quake, in particular the Philippines and Indonesia.
It added that the embassy in Tokyo was trying to contact Swiss citizens living in areas hit by the earthquake, but this was difficult because lines were either cut or overloaded. The ministry was preparing to send more staff to the embassy to help out.
So far there have been no indications of any Swiss casualties.
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, working with the Japanese Red Cross, has set up a website to help people trace family members and friends thought to be in the earthquake area.
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