Japan, one of the world''s most quake-prone nations, has sent medical teams to the site of the Jan. 12 quake, which Haitian authorities say killed up to 200,000 people.
Japan will boost significantly its aid for quake-hit Haiti to $70 million and wants to send troops quickly to join a United Nations mission, officials said on Monday after Tokyo was blamed for not giving enough aid.
Japan, one of the world''s most quake-prone nations, has already announced $5 million dollars in aid for Haiti and sent medical teams to the site of the Jan. 12 quake, which Haitian authorities say killed up to 200,000 people.
A senior United Nations official accused Japan last week of not providing enough aid to Haiti, given the size of its economy and its experience with disastrous earthquakes.
Chief cabinet secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Japan planned to announce a total of $70 million in aid for Haiti at a conference in Montreal later on Monday.
Tokyo would soon also soon tell the United Nations of its willingness to send troops to join MINUSTAH, the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the troops should be sent expeditiously.
"The Haitian people saw the greatest scale of damage for an earthquake," Hatoyama told reporters.
"We decided we will send PKO (troops) as soon as possible. Japan must think of areas it is good at," he said.
The United Nations is adding 2,000 troops and 1,500 police to its 9,000-member mission. Japan is preparing to provide some 300 troops for activities such as debris removal, Hirano said.
Hirano said the plan did not conflict with Japan''s pacifist constitution, which limits the activities of its troops abroad.
"I do not think that the security conditions are good there, but this is humanitarian aid, aid for an earthquake," he said.
Japan was the world''s biggest aid donor in the mid-1990s but its ailing economy and rapidly rising debt pushed it down to fifth place in 2008, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
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