German president promises help to Japan disaster survivors

Oct 25, 2011, 10:07 GMT

Tokyo - German President Christian Wulff on Tuesday pledged more help from his country to survivors of March's earthquake and tsunami in Japan while also calling the phaseout of nuclear energy in Germany the 'project of the century.'

Wulff met with people in Iwaki in north-eastern Japan who had to evacuate their homes near a nuclear plant that was damaged in the disaster and has been leaking radioactive material.

Thousands of people continue to live in temporary housing or shelters seven months after the disaster killed about 16,000 people and left 4,000 missing.

Earlier, he said Germany's exit from nuclear power must be combined with advances in sustainability.

Germany was rattled by the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history. As a result, Germany decided to close all of its nuclear reactors by 2022.

The energy turnaround would occur in incremental steps and must be accompanied by improvements in efficiency, of which Japan is a trailblazer, the German head of state said while receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Tsukuba outside Tokyo.

Climate change has made it clear that economic growth must soon be decoupled from increasing use of resources, the president said, adding that today's generation should not sacrifice the future so it could achieve affluence.

'That goes for our private and government debts as well as for our handling of all of our resources,' Wulff said.

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