quake's

"As the quake's impact remains, the environment is harsh in the fiscal first half," said Fujitsu President Masami Yamamoto at a news conference.

Fujitsu Forecasts Japan IT Spending Rebound Juro Osawa 2011

When Virginia's magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit last August, the first Twitter reports sent from people at the epicenter began almost instantly at 1:51 p.m.—and reached New York about 40 seconds ahead of the quake's first shock waves, according to calculations by the social media company SocialFlow.

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But the outlook for its mainstay information-technology services remains uncertain, as Fujitsu's corporate clients are still assessing the quake's impact on their businesses.

Fujitsu Sees Quake Impact in 'Billions of Yen' Juro Osawa 2011

In late April, Fujitsu reported that its net profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 fell 41% from a year earlier to ¥55.09 billion due partly to the quake's negative impact.

Fujitsu Forecasts Japan IT Spending Rebound Juro Osawa 2011

Humanitarian officials said the proximity of the quake's epicenter, only 10 miles from Port-au-Prince's sprawling slums and hilltop villas, as well as Haiti's crumbling infrastructure, meant it was difficult to estimate how many people might be dead or injured.

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At Fujitsu, the quake's overall negative impact on its IT-services segment will likely be more serious than the impact on manufacturing operations such as chips and other electronics devices, Mr. Yamamoto said.

Fujitsu Sees Quake Impact in 'Billions of Yen' Juro Osawa 2011

Industry leader Nippon Steel, whose Kamaishi plant and nearby port facilities in Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan were damaged due to partial flooding, has yet to comment about the quake's impact on its financial results.

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The OECD report also said that public spending to deal with the quake's devastation would have to be shouldered, in part, by the general public.

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On the outlook for the Japanese economy, the OECD said it was too early to judge the full scale of the quake's impact, but it said power-supply issues would play a key role in determining how quickly the country starts to recover.

OECD Urges Japan to Raise Sales Tax George Nishiyama 2011

Its earnings outlook is based on expectations that the quake's negative impact will shave ¥80 billion off its revenue and ¥37 billion off its operating profit this fiscal year.

Fujitsu Forecasts Japan IT Spending Rebound Juro Osawa 2011