Former First Lady and President of the 31st December Women¹s Movement, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has praised the people of Japan for their sense of resilience following the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that wreaked havoc and claimed thousands of lives in the Fukushima Prefecture earlier this month.

Speaking during a courtesy call on the Acting Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Hisanobu Mochizuki in Accra, Nana Konadu who was accompanied by former President Rawlings, said they were touched by the extent of devastation caused by the Tsunami.

³I know the Japanese people have a strength of endurance but this is a difficult tragedy which cannot be forgotten easily. We love Japan and indirectly feel the pain the Japanese people are going through,² Nana Konadu said.

Nana Konadu, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said when the Kobe earthquake disaster occurred in 1995 she organised her movement to donate containers of cocoa powder and other relief items to the victims, ³but this time round our circumstances make it difficult to offer such support. Please pass on our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the Emperor, Prime Minister and people of Japan.²

President Rawlings commended Prime Minister Naoto Kan for the able manner he has handled the disaster. He also praised the people of Japan for their strength of character. ³Without it they could not have suffered this pain with such dignity,² he said.

Ambassador Mochizuki thanked President and Mrs. Rawlings for their warm gesture and said the government and people of Japan were very grateful for their show of sympathy.

He said though Japan was sited in an earthquake prone zone, with thousands of earthquakes occurring annually, the latest earthquake and ensuing Tsunami was overwhelming.