Japan counts cost of lost year in wake of 11 March calamity A FULL year has been lost in rebuilding tsunami-ravaged parts of Japan, it was claimed yesterday. The Red Cross in Japan said the failure of central and local government to agree a masterplan had delayed reconstruction and added to survivors" anguish. It called for renewed efforts to bring the hardest hit areas of the north-east back to life. It said, almost a year after the magnitude 9 earthquake on 11 March unleashed a tsunami that killed an estimated 16,000 people and triggered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, around 360,000 people were still homeless. A further 3,300 are missing, presumed dead. "The central government has proposed different scenarios, but they were met with strong opposition from local governments and also people affected directly by the earthquake and tsunami," Japanese Red Cross president Tadateru Konoe said. Without reaching any agreement on a masterplan for rehabilitation and reconstruction, it's very difficult to even start a reconstruction process. I think the first thing is to hasten this process, then they can mobilise. I think that should be the very start of everything. So one year has been wasted in that sense because they haven't been able to reach any consensus. Hopes that the triple disaster would jolt Japan out of long-standing economic and political stagnation have proved unfounded. Government debt has grown, while key decisions keep being postponed and politicians have reverted to skirmishing in a deadlocked parliament. Public mistrust of officials and politicians has risen. The Red Cross has raised ¥400 billion (£3.2bn) over the past year in donations from Japan and abroad, providing ¥290bn in cash payouts to affected residents. It said Red Cross activities had shifted over the year from attending to the urgent medical needs of survivors, many of them elderly, to long-term support - including help in building temporary and permanent health facilities. Uncertainty, it said, was deepening a sense of isolation felt by many survivors, adding to huge psychological burdens. "The slow pace of reconstruction along Japan's devastated north-eastern coastline is contributing to survivors" stress, as there is little clarity on how long they will have to remain in cramped temporary housing," it said in a statement. Patrick Fuller, communications manager at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said people in affected areas were isolated - they had lost their homes and were separated from relatives forced to earn a living elsewhere. Just bringing a sense of well-being to people is really important. Even a year on, there's a lot of emotional scars the people are still dealing with," he said. How do the people view their future? Is it sustainable to remain in some of these towns where life is coming back very slowly? Communities close to the Fukushima nuclear plant, crippled by the disaster, have to cope with additional stress and anxiety over the long-term effects of radiation released after reactor meltdowns at the facility, the Red Cross said. Mothers won't let their children outside to play. They are living in an information vacuum," Mr Konoe said. The Japanese Red Cross plans to hold a conference in Tokyo in May to help set guidelines on helping people cope. "The legacy of such disasters has taught us to do more to help people prepare for such eventualities," Mr Konoe added.