Stashing money at home backfires in Japan tsunami zone

In the aftermath of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, metal safes are being recovered from the debris. Individuals sifting through the rubble are finding safes and money that are being turned into authorities. The devastation and its aftermath; points to the danger of keeping large amounts of money around, even if it is in a safe. Article resource – Stashing cash at home backfires in Japan tsunami zone by MoneyBlogNewz.

Metal safes intact among the devastation

All of the cleanup workers after the Japan earthquake and tsunami are finding hundreds of safes with millions in yen in money. The safes recovered from the devastation are being stored by police. According to the Associated Press, the Ofunato police station has used the parking garage to store the safes. The department’s cars can’t even fit anymore. There may have been over 25,000 deaths from the tsunami. It is anticipated that several safes and parcels of cash are likely to go unclaimed. The Japanese law states that valuables can be stored for 90 days. This is the shortest they can wait. Everyone who finds it gets to keep the unclaimed money if nobody claims it. If nobody claims the money, the government takes it.

Too many safes full of cash

The money is something that could really benefit the Japanese government. Paying for earthquake and tsunami damages won’t be cheap. The estimate is at $309 billion already. The cash hidden that was lost was not integrated in that estimate that was only counting buildings, homes and infrastructures that were wiped out. There were several in Japan that didn’t feel comfortable with ATMs and other ideas. These individuals, mostly elderly, would stash cash in your house. According to Japan’s central bank, more than a third of 10,000-yen bills that are printed don’t circulate — about 30 trillion yen — about $354 billion at the current exchange rate. Old habits and convenience have led older Japanese, a growing segment in a rapidly aging population, to stash cash in safes, boxes and furniture. The idea of a savings account is inconvenient since there have been very low rates of interest.

Finding out what the safes hold

On Japan’s devastated northwest coast, more than 13,000 tsunami deaths have been confirmed as of April 11 and another 14,377 people are nevertheless missing. The safes and money have not all been found. More than likely, this will continue. Opening a safe is the easiest way to claim it if you own it. Matching a wad of cash with its rightful owner can be more complicated, if not impossible. Only 10 to 15 percent of anything found in the wreckage were returned in one of the hardest hit towns by the tsunami, Kesennuma. Storing the safes may be hard to do. As they run out of space, authorities can have to start opening them.

Articles cited

Associated Press

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110411/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake_lost_money

The Telegraph

telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8443301/Japan-earthquake-police-handed-tens-of-millions-of-yen-from-devastated-area.html

Seattle P.I.

seattlepi.com/news/article/Debris-challenges-pile-up-in-Japan-1-month-later-1331227.php