. the other 94 percent are open for business as usual, providing various financial services. looking at the impact on a nationwide level, japan ’ s core payment and settlement systems, including the bank of japan financial network system, or boj - net, have been consistently functioning as normal since the earthquake struck. in financial markets, the tokyo stock exchange has been open for business as usual. like electricity, water, gas, railways, and roads, the financial and settlement systems are critical infrastructure that supports people ’ s lives and economic activity. if the financial and settlement systems as a whole had ceased to function normally, the adverse effects on people ’ s lives and economic activity probably would have been even greater. the robustness of the financial system that we have seen this time was attributable to the hard work and solidarity of the people involved after the earthquake struck. i would also like to point out that the steady efforts of those involved in normal times, such as in developing business bis central bankers ’ speeches continuity plans and carrying out street - wide disaster exercises, greatly contributed to this robustness. iii. bank of japan ’ s responses next, i would like to explain how the bank of japan reacted to the disaster. continued provision of financial services what the bank of japan did first was to continue providing financial services as usual. in that regard, it was vitally important to maintain the financial functions that serve as a lifeline in the affected areas. on the financial front, the first urgent need faced by people in the affected areas is to secure cash to purchase the necessities. the day the earthquake occurred, i promptly asked, jointly with the minister for financial services, financial institutions to take appropriate measures to accommodate the needs of those affected by the disaster, such as permitting the withdrawal of deposits even in cases where depositors had lost certificates of deposits or passbooks. moreover, the bank of japan strived to provide cash to the disaster areas in a prompt and sufficient manner day after day, including holidays, to meet the cash needs of people in those areas. in fact, the amount of cash provided to the affected areas was three times larger than in normal times. the bank of japan has also been taking all possible measures as the central bank to support affected areas by responding to various related financial needs such as exchanging banknotes and coins that were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. the bank of japan ’ s operations in the tohoku region, including our branches in sendai and fukushima and

they are currently quite stable. enhancement of monetary easing the third response was to take policy measures on the monetary policy front, by enhancing monetary easing. it so happened that the monetary policy meeting was scheduled to be held over two days starting from the next business day after the earthquake. as the bank of japan deemed it desirable to examine the possible effects of the disaster on japan ’ s economy and finances and promptly announce a guideline for money market operations, thereby ensuring stability in public sentiment and in the financial markets, it shortened the duration of the meeting to one day and decided on enhancement of monetary easing on march 14. what we feared most immediately after the disaster was a situation in which a deterioration in business sentiment or an increase in investors ’ aversion to risk would lead to an increase in various risk premiums, thereby adversely affecting economic activity. since the autumn of 2010, the bank of japan has started to purchase various assets, including risk assets such as cp, corporate bonds, exchange traded funds ( etfs ), and japan real estate investment trusts ( j - reits ), under the comprehensive monetary easing framework. this time, the bank of japan decided to increase the amount of the asset purchase program, by doubling the purchases of assets from about 5 to about 10 trillion yen. this measure appears to have helped to reassure financial markets. iv. confidence in financial infrastructure that concludes my explanation of what we did in the month following the earthquake. as the situation is still evolving and we do not yet have sufficient information, it is too early to draw any lessons at this juncture. nevertheless, it does seem worthwhile to share our impressions with one another while our memories are fresh, ahead of full - scale examination of the issue in the future. i myself have thought many things, but if i were to choose one, it would be the importance of ensuring that people retain confidence and trust that financial infrastructure will function normally. in the week following the earthquake, rumors spread mainly among some foreign financial institutions that tokyo financial markets would close. while hard to believe, there was also a groundless rumor that the bank of japan would move its computer center to osaka. extreme anxiety can in itself induce self - propagating market reactions. fortunately, such rumors gradually dissipated. several factors contributed. the first of these was the strong commitment shown by those involved. for my part, i explained to overseas authorities, through an impromptu conference call with g - 7 finance ministers and central bank governors and on other occasions,