Tsunami pushes Japan from major aid donor to leading recipient

Japan is set to make the traumatic leap from being one of the world's most generous aid donors to one of its biggest aid recipients as it begins the mammoth task of cleaning up the wreckage left by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

According to the World Bank, the total cost of the recovery will be $235 billion (£143 billion), which would make it the world's most expensive disaster. The Japanese Red Cross said it had received $2.2 billion in foreign donations but had been unable to distribute the bulk of it.