The Japanese government estimated that this month’s mega-quake damage could swell to as much as 25 trillion yen (US $309 billion), an amount almost four times the hit imposed by Hurricane Katrina on the U.S.

But this report, issued today by Cabinet Office, indicates only the first economic damage predicted from the natural disaster, and doesn’t include any damages expected to be incurred from harmful rumors about radiation, so this number may climb further.

Looking at the medtech industry, heads of industry associations and research institutes have told JMD&MT that it’s too early to gauge the quake and tsumami’s impact on the industry.

Assuring the delivery of needed medical devices to the sufferers and the restoration of plant operations in the affected areas are the first priority, says Kenichi Matsumoto, chairman of the Japan Association of Medical Device Industries, because medical device manufacturers are not only reeling from damage to factories and suppliers, but also suffering from fuel shortages nationwide and power outages in the Tokyo area that are affecting production, distribution and the ability of staff to get to work.

“We have enough stock to cover the April delivery, but there are no prospects for May and going forward,” says Matsumoto, who also service as chairman of Sakura Seiko Co., a Tokyo-based maker of ultrasonic cleaning equipments, whose suppliers of electric motors were struck by the earthquake.

Meanwhile, Shohei Nakano, a senior researcher at the Medical Device Strategy Institute (MDSI), says that the current administration will offer extensive aid and relief package to the quake-hit region, but he worries that the money will be injected to areas that need immediate assistance, and no strategic plans for rebuilding the region as a whole may not be created. 

The Tohoku areas have been actively pursuing a project to attract the next-generation medtech industry to the region since 2002. “My grave concern right now is how fast and how efficiently the government will map out plans to rebuild the whole region,” as a hub to the medtech industry, says Nakano.