"We have decided to offer necessary payment as provisional compensation so that we can provide as much support as possible," Masataka Shimizu, president of Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), told a news conference.

Tens of thousands of people living in a 20-kilometre (13-mile) zone around the plant were ordered to leave due to radiation fears, and people within 30 km were first told to stay indoors and later encouraged to also evacuate.

"We will pay the provisional payment to families who lived in areas where people were ordered to evacuate or stay inside their houses," Shimizu said.

Japan's economy suffered a big blow in the triple earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, but the country should have no problem financing reconstruction, the central bank chief said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Reuters