Colombia’s foreign minister considers a repatriation mission for Colombian nationals living in Japan, following the devastating earthquake and tsunami which hit the Asian nation Friday, news site Terra reported Monday.
Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said that the Colombian ambassador in Japan, Patricia Cardenas, is taking a census in Japan to find out how many Colombian nationals wish to be repatriated.
Holguin said they would decide Monday whether to send a plane to Japan to bring Colombians home.
According to a report on the Colombian government website, Cardenas reported that more than 2,000 Colombians living in Japan are safe and accounted for.
Despite continued efforts by the Embassy to open lines of communication with Colombian nationals living in Japan, two Colombian families remain missing.
The combination of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan Friday left more than 10,000 feared dead, millions in dire need of humanitarian assistance, billions of dollars in damage, and serious concern over radiation exposure caused by the partial meltdown of two nuclear reactors.