GGCT advises Macau residents not to travel to Fukushima

An explosion occurred Saturday (12 March) at the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, Japan. GGCT advises Macau residents not to travel to Fukushima prefecture, and those who are there to be attentive to safety instructions of the government, and to take necessary measures to ensure personal safety. GGCT continues to monitor the situation and the effects of the severe earthquake occurred in Japan, while maintaining contact with the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC in Macau, the travel industry, the representatives of the Macao Government Tourist Office (MGTO) in Japan, in order to follow up the developments, as well as to inform the residents in need to call the tourism hotline: 28333000. After the earthquake occurred in Japan, the Macau and Hong Kong airline companies resumed successively the flights between Macau and Tokyo, although the public transport and communication systems haven't recovered completely. GGCT is monitoring closely the local situation after the earthquake and urges Macau residents and tourists in Japan to be aware of personal safety and pay attention to local safety instructions. According to information provided by the travel industry, at this moment there are 2 Macau tour groups with around 50 people in Osaka which will continue with their itinerary. In addition, there are around 40 Macau residents travelling individually in Japan, for which GGCT will continue to maintain contact with them in order to follow up the situation and provide assistance. Up till today (13 March) 17:00, GGCT received accumulated total of 146 inquiries: mainly regarding the local transports not being recovered, not being able to go to the airport in Tokyo, or wishing to return earlier to Macau, finding out different information and contacts for assistance, as well as enquiries due to not being able to contact their family or friends. There are a total of 12 cases, involving 13 people, GGCT is assisting to follow the related cases, in which 10 cases have already been solved and GGCT is following the remaining 2 cases. Since there are some cases with insufficient information, GGCT urges the needed citizens to call the tourism hotline to provide the necessary information. On the other hand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC issued an emergency announcement regarding the severe earthquake in the North-Eastern region of Japan on March 11th, stating that every possible effort will be deployed to assist Chinese citizens, and should there be casualties or any other injuries, they can contact the Embassy through the following numbers: 1. Mobile phone: 090-7835-2685; 090-4830-5150; 080-1138-973 2. Telephone: 03-3403-3388, extension 8712 3. Fax: 03-3403-5447; 03-3403-3380; 03-3403-3345