Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung Thursday visited the Japanese embassy in Hanoi to express his grief over the suffering caused to the people of Japan by last week’s massive earthquake and tsunami.

 

After a observing a minute’s silence in memory of the disasters’ victims, Dung signed a condolence book expressing his sympathy for Japan’s losses.

He said that Vietnamese people respected the Japanese people’s resilience, orderliness, calmness and solidarity in the face of adversity.

 

Smashing Japan’s northeast coast Friday, the 8.9 magnitude quake and one of the world’s most powerful tsunamis has so far left 5,692 dead, Reuters quoted the country’s National Police Agency as saying. Meanwhile, 9,522 people were unaccounted for, it said.

 

He is confident that the people of Japan will soon overcome difficulties and develop strongly with their resilience as well as international support, Dung said.

 

He also expressed his gratitude to the Japanese government and people for helping Vietnamese victims of natural disasters.

 

Vietnam is willing to send teams of doctors and health workers to Japan for help upon request, he said, adding that many local agencies are raising funds to support Japanese people.

 

The Prime Minister and his cabinent donated part of their salaries to raise a total of VND190 million (US$9,112) for victims of the disaster. The government had earlier ordered an urgent aid package of $200,000 to be delivered to Japan.

 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that as of Thursday 84 Vietnamese students have been evacuated from affected areas, including the Fukushima prefecture, which is currently plagued by nuclear meltdown fears, to Tokyo.

 

No radioactive contamination was detected on them, the ministry said.