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Japan bank says quake donations crippled ATMs

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-03-25 19:39

TOKYO - Japan's Mizuho Bank says a surge in transactions for donations to earthquake victims caused computer glitches that froze all of its 5,600 ATMs last week.

Mizuho Bank spokesman Gaku Deguchi said Friday the outage affected more than 1.16 million transactions worth 830 billion yen ($10 billion).

Mizuho's automatic teller machines stopped nationwide on March 16, five days after the killer quake and tsunami decimated much of northern Japan. The bank said the machines have been operating normally since Tuesday.

Deguchi declined to give details on the number of quake donations.

Police said the death toll from the March 11 disaster surpassed the 10,000 mark Friday, and it could jump as more than 17,400 people are still missing.