With debris piled up and fears of radiation unabated in the aftermath of catastrophe, Japanese government needs to expedite reconstruction.

The devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami a year ago left about 22.5 million tons of debris in three hardest-hit prefectures, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, but less than six percent has been processed for good.

Yoshihiro Murai, governor of Miyagi prefecture, told a press conference on Wednesday that the prefecture initially planned to have 3.5 million tons of debris taken over by other prefectures. " At present, we are only able to find recipients for 150,000 tons," he said.

Asked by Xinhua about the reason, Murai said there were fears that some of these debris were contaminated with radioactivity resulted from the tsunami-stricken nuclear power plant in neighboring Fukushima prefecture.

The current situation frustrated the governor whose prefecture has to handle about 18 million tons of debris in total.

"We are the victims of rumors that we are not able to find other takers of the debris," Murai said.

According to a Kyodo news agency poll, more than 80 percent of the municipalities in the country are unwilling to accept quake debris.

Local officials in Miyagi said the radiation level of the debris is under the legal limits, but people are still nervous about the negative impact of processing debris on their health.

Japanese government should convey the information about radiation to the people across the country and nation-wide cooperation is also indispensable to dispose of the debris as early as possible, observers said.

In addition, the government needs to work closely with the quake-hit prefectures. A recent editorial in the Daily Yomiuri pointed out the urgency of closing the gap between government and these prefectures.

The editorial said there is a delay in the implementation of budgets related to reconstruction. Among a total of 14.34 trillion yen (about 173. 9 billion U.S. dollars) earmarked in the first to fourth supplementary budgets, only 55 percent had been disbursed by January, it said.

A poll by the daily showed that 72 percent of those surveyed nationwide believed reconstruction is making little or no progress. The figure was a reminder of the daunting and urgent task confronting the Japanese government.

The government has been working very hard and it does have some highlights like the speedy resumption of transportation in the quake zone. But to facilitate a thorough recovery from the massive quake and catastrophic tsunami, as well as the aftermath of a nuclear accident the world had never seen in 25 years, it takes greater courage and wisdom.