By Jon Herskovitz

  KESENNUMA, Japan (Reuters) - Fuel shortages, icy rain and power outages are hampering Japan's worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two, but relief workers are reporting some progress as mangled roads are reopened and new homes built.

  The sheer numbers in the world's costliest natural disaster -- estimated at $250 billion (153 billion pounds) -- remain staggering. There are about 21,000 dead or missing, 319,000 people evacuated, 2,131 makeshift shelters, 2.4 million people without access to water and 221,000 households without power.

  " There is some improvement in terms of logistics and in getting food and other supplies," said Francis Markus of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies delegation in Tokyo.

  " But it is still very difficult."

  Rain grounded helicopters loaded with supplies this week, forcing authorities to rely on roads and delaying aid, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Access to water " remains a concern" in 11 prefectures, it added.

  Makeshift evacuation centres, packed with hundreds of shell-shocked survivors sleeping side-by-side for more than a week, are orderly but clearly deteriorating in some regions, beset by cases of diarrhoea, influenza, stress and fatigue.

  " The only thing we can do is stick it out," said Takeshi Murakami, 67, in Kesennuma in devastated Miyagi prefecture whose governor reckons as many as 15,000 people were killed by the March 11 quake and tsunami.

  Murakami is staying in a school gym with about 450 others, down from a peak of about 800 people last week. Hastily gathered possessions are folded in tidy bundles next to sleeping bags. Most escaped only with the clothes on their back. Few have bathed since the 9.0 tremor.

  Sleep at the shelter is often interrupted by the screams of an Alzheimer sufferer during the night. Evacuees use portable toilets outside the gym. In one section, the elderly lie on mats on the wooden floor, receiving intravenous drips.

  Telephone companies provide free services at the gym, where an entire wall is jammed with notices posted by people seeking help to find the missing. Without television, there is little to do but talk, grieve and wait. Many huddle around heaters.

  " There is no privacy but you have to get used to it," said Keiichi Kato, 49, who ran a children's clothing store before it was obliterated, replaced by four washed up fishing trawlers.

  SLOW PROGRESS

  There is progress. The Tohoku Expressway connecting Tokyo with quake-hit areas has re-opened to trucks. In Rikuzentakata, where more than 80 percent of the estimated 8,000 households were swept away, temporary homes are now being built.

  About 5.5 million meals, 380,000 blankets and 90,000 diapers had been distributed across the tsunami-ravaged region as of Monday, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

  But it was unclear how many people these had reached.

  An official at the Disaster Relief Headquarters in northern Iwate prefecture, where 45,687 people were living in evacuation centres as of Monday, said a shortage of fuel was preventing aid from reaching hard-hit remote areas.

  " Relief goods are being sent to evacuation centres but because of a shortage of fuel there's certainly not enough and there are places that goods are not reaching," he said.

  " There are many places without electricity," he added. " Some people (in evacuation centres) are becoming ill."

  The U.N. humanitarian office reported trouble caring for the disabled, especially the hearing impaired who in high-tech Japan rely on e-mails sent by mobile phone to communicate. Much of the mobile phone network remains down.

  " The psychological toll on those who survived the disaster and are now in evacuation centres is becoming more apparent. Many evacuees, including children, are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders," the U.N. agency said.

  It is unclear how long people will stay in the shelters. An exasperated Yoshihiro Murai, governor of Miyagi, last week asked earthquake and tsunami victims to leave the prefecture due to a shortage in housing. Some are quietly heeding his call.

  About 10,000 people, on average, are leaving evacuation centres a day, according to U.N. data. The Red Cross's Markus said many are heading to homes of people not affected by the disaster who have offered to take in survivors.

  But some shelters remain over-crowded. At a sports arena in Minamisanriku, a town in Miyagi prefecture that lost about half its population, survivors are sprawled out on blankets on the floor, separated by knee-high cardboard walls.

  About 1,500 evacuees are staying there. About 20 left when relatives managed to buy fuel and pick them up. Staff say the centre exceeds capacity. Nearby evacuation centres are also crowded.

  Many wear surgical masks and wipe their hands regularly with alcohol to prevent the spread of influenza. The elderly sit dazed on benches. Teenagers crowd a booth to recharge mobile phones. On standby are ambulances and a van with a dentist.

  " I can't think of anything other than electricity, water and gas now," said Takuro Endo, 18, as he searches names on a wall listing those in other evacuation centres. " It could take 10 years for the town to recover."

  (Additional reporting by Chisa Fujioka, and Elaine Lies Writing and additional reporting by Jason Szep Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

* FTSEurofirst 300 index gains 0.6 percent

  * Banks gain as JPMorgan positive says " buy"

  * Prudential up as UBS bullish

  * For up-to-the minute market news, click on

 

  By Joanne Frearson

  LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - European shares edged higher on Tuesday, adding to the previous session's sharp gains and further retracing last week's hefty selloff as buyers emerged to tap cheap equity valuations.

  By 0940 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was 0.6 percent higher at 1,113.95 points after surging 1.8 percent in the previous session partly on major merger and acquisition news in the telecom sector.

  " European company exposure is quite limited in Japan and global GDP is still strong, with growth in the emerging markets still high," Andrea Williams, who manages 1.3 billion pounds ($2.12 billion) in assets for Royal London Asset Management, said.

  " Company dividends are reasonable, earnings are growing, price-to-earnings ratios are cheap, we are overweight the cyclicals and like the insurance sector as they have good dividend growth."

  The insurance sector, which had been heavily sold off after the Japan crisis, added to the previous session gains and featured among the best performers.

  The STOXX Europe 600 Insurance rose 1 percent, with Prudential gaining 0.6 percent on a bullish note from UBS.

  Elsewhere, the banking sector was in demand after JPMorgan said there was an excellent opportunity to " buy" global investment banks as the impact of the Japan crisis was limited.

  The broker said top picks included UBS, BNP Paribas and Intesa Sanpaolo, which were between 1 to 2 percent higher.

 

  MARKET RECOVERING

  Brokers were positive strong corporate fundamentals would push the market higher.

  " Despite the recovery in prices in recent days, we continue to believe the market has overestimated the impact of recent negative news events outside Europe, while largely ignoring some positive developments closer to home," Nomura analysts said.

  The FTSEurofirst index fell 5.6 percent from the open on Friday March 11, the day of the Japan earthquake, to a low of 1066.62 on March 16. It has since recovered 4.4 percent, leaving it just 1.6 percent off a complete retracement.

  Equity valuations on Thomson Reuters Datastream showed the STOXX Europe 600 carrying a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 10.2, below a 10-year average of 13.6.

  However, gains could be tempered by any negative news around Japan's nuclear disaster, violence in Libya and civil unrest elsewhere in the Middle East, traders said.

  Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was 0.3 percent higher, Germany's DAX was up 0.1 percent and France's CAC 40 rose 0.5 percent. (Reporting by Joanne Frearson Editing by Hans Peters) ($1=.6143 Pound)

March 22 (Reuters) - Hong Kong February consumer price data:

  * HK's headline CPI rose 3.7 pct in February , year on year

  * HK's underlying CPI rose 3.6 pct in February year on year

 

  KEY DATA Percent change from a year earlier

  ___2011___ __________2010__________

  Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Composite CPI 3.7 3.6 3.1 2.9 2.6 2.6 CPI (A) 3.9 3.9 3.5 3.4 3.1 3.2 CPI (B) 3.7 3.6 3.0 2.8 2.5 2.5 CPI (C) 3.4 3.4 2.7 2.6 2.0 2.0 Underlying CPI change** 3.6 3.5 2.8 2.6 2.3 2.2 ** Inflation excluding temporary waivers on public rents, quarterly taxes on property, and subsidies for utilities charges. Percent change from previous month

  ___2011___ __________2010__________

  Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Composite CPI 1.1 0.6 0.5 0.5 2.1 0.3 CPI (A) 1.3 0.9 0.5 0.3 4.7 0.7 CPI (B) 1.2 0.6 0.6 0.5 1.2 0.2 CPI (C) 0.9 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.1

 

  For the three-month period ended February 2011, the monthly average rate of composite CPI was up a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent, versus a 0.5 increase in the November to January period.

 

  COMMENTARY

  A Government spokesman said that taking the first two months of 2011 together to remove any potential distortion from the timing of the Lunar New Year, underlying consumer price inflation rose further to 3.6 percent, amid notable increases in import prices and robust local economic conditions.

  The spokesman added that inflationary pressure in the economy was likely to increase in coming months, as global food and commodity prices remained elevated and feed-through from earlier rapid increases in private housing rentals continued. The government would also closely monitor the implications on inflation from global events, including the series of incidents in Japan following the earthquake and political unrest in the Middle East. The Government will remain vigilant on the impact of inflation on low-income people.

  LINKS

  To view the full details of the CPI data, see the Hong Kong government website at: http://www.info.gov.hk/hkecon/key/index.htm

  Notes: Composite CPI is based on the combined expenditure pattern of households covered by the three CPIs.

  CPI (A), Hong Kong's broadest measure of inflation, is based on the 50 percent of households spending between HK$4,000 and HK$15,499 a month as of the fiscal 2004/2005 base year.

  CPI (B) is based on the 30 percent of households which spend HK$15,500 to HK$27,499 a month as of the 2004/2005 fiscal year base.

  CPI (C), published by Hang Seng Bank Ltd., is based on the 10 percent of households spending HK$27,500 to HK$59,999 as of the 2004/2005 fiscal year base. Source: Census and Statistics Department (Reporting by Raymond Leung Editing by Chris Lewis)

LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S. warplane has crashed in a Libyan field after an apparent mechanical failure and its pilot has been rescued by rebels, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on its website on Tuesday.

  The plane is an F-15E Eagle, the Telegraph added in a report from a correspondent on the ground in Libya. U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment.

  (Editing by Tim Pearce)