The Yomiuri Shimbun
The March 11 disaster is causing more than twice as many bankruptcies as the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake did, with the Kanto region being hit hardest because of supply shortages caused by the earthquake and tsunami.
According to Teikoku Databank Ltd., a corporate credit research company, 57 companies went bankrupt between March 11 and the end of April because of the Great East Japan Earthquake. This figure includes companies currently going through bankruptcy proceedings.
Even businesses that were not directly affected by the disaster have been stung by the damage suffered by client companies in the hard-hit Tohoku region.
Of the 57 companies that have gone under, only 13 were in Tohoku. Most of these companies had their head offices wrecked by the earthquake or their inventory swept away by tsunami.
Many of the 44 other companies were in areas not directly affected by the disaster, but have been unable to obtain components for their products or were battered by a flood of cancellations as people voluntarily refrained from unnecessary spending in a show of solidarity with quake victims.
By region, 17 companies were in Kanto, Hokkaido and Hokuriku each had seven, and three were in Kyushu, according to Teikoku Databank.
In the six weeks after the Jan. 17, 1995, Great Hanshin Earthquake, 22 companies went bankrupt because of damage caused by the temblor.
Of 394 companies that went bankrupt due to the Hanshin quake over the three years until the end of 1997, 210, or more than half, were based in Hyogo Prefecture and had been damaged by the earthquake.
(May. 2, 2011)
