341 firms went bust due to disasters

A total of 341 firms have gone under due to the effects of the March earthquake and tsunami, according to credit research agency Teikoku Databank.

As of Sunday, the six-month anniversary of the disaster, debts left behind from the failed businesses totaled about ¥612.3 billion and the businesses had a combined 6,376 employees, the agency said Monday.

The number of bankruptcies with debts of ¥10 million or more represents a rate about 2.8 times faster than the 123 failures in the six months following the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.

A Teikoku Databank official said the disaster-related failures have included many apparel stores and restaurants, where customers were reluctant to spend money.

By region, 62 failures took place in Tohoku region, of which 46 were reported in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the three prefectures hardest hit by the twin disasters.

In the Kanto region, 128 failures were reported, of which 64 happened in Tokyo, the agency said.

Twenty-eight businesses, or 8.2 percent of the total, were directly hit by the disaster, such as damage to plants by the tsunami.

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