Indians safe in Japan, but few head home

Tokyo: All Indian nationals in Japan are safe as some 30-40 Indians, mostly from the worst-affected Sendai area in northeastern part of the country, left for India on Wednesday due to the devastation in the aftermath of tsunami caused by the massive earthquake last week.

The Indians, who were safely brought to a hotel in Tokyo from various rehabilitation centres in Sendai, have left for India with the help from the Embassy, Indian Ambassador to Japan Alok Prasad said. He said some 30-40 Indians left on Wednesday.

Prasad said though there is no officials travel advisory, the embassy will facilitate the return of all those who are wanting to travel to India.

"Some of them want to go because they have small children or due to nature of their work contract. They want to leave for their personal reasons, there is no official advisory," he said.

Asked about the percentage of Indians, who have shown interest to return, he said though the flights from Tokyo and Osaka are going full, the number of Indians wanting to come back was only in hundreds out of the 25,000-strong community.

"We are in very close touch with the government of Japan, with their monitoring of radiation levels. We are also in touch with the Indian community," he said.

He said the embassy will also facilitate travel of all those who may have lost travel or any other documents. The envoy said he had asked the Indian government for capacity augmentation to ferry more people seeking to return to India.

Prasad said he handed over the first consignment of relief materials, including woolen blankets, to the state secretary who appreciated the gesture towards the people of Japan in this hour of crisis.

The Ambassador said all Indian nationals in Japan are safe.

"We are very thankful that there have been no casualties among Indian nationals despite this very major disaster, and all Indians are safe," Prasad said.

Prasad said the embassy has set up a 24-hour helpline and has been giving regular updates on its website.