Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan received messages of condolence and offers of assistance from a range of international leaders. According to Japan's foreign ministry, 163 countries and regions, and 43 international organizations had offered assistance to Japan as of September 15, 2011. The magnitude of the earthquake was estimated at 9.1. This article is a list of charitable and humanitarian responses to the disaster from governments and non-governmental organizations. As of March 2012, donations to areas affected by the disaster totalled ¥520 billion and 930,000 people have assisted in disaster recovery efforts. Requesting and handling of foreign aid Japan had a history of blocking or slowing foreign rescue teams in case of disaster, most notably the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 in 1985 and the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995. This time the Japanese government made shift response to request foreign help. At 18:00, March 11, 2011, the Foreign Ministry of Japan announced to the public that it had specifically requested eight countries to send teams to help Japan, including South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, the United States, China, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Later, it also requested the activation of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters, allowing diverse satellite imagery of affected regions to be readily shared with rescue and aid organizations. The Japanese government softened rules for various matters after being subjected to huge criticism in the Great Hanshin earthquake for not being flexible in accepting foreign aid, including quarantining foreign rescue dogs and foreign goods, using medicine unapproved in Japan brought by foreign aid teams, customs tax for humanitarian goods, etc. The effectiveness of the Japanese bureaucracy in handling international aid had been subject to much academic research. Governmental responses The city of Kandahar donated $50,000 to Japan. Prime Minister Sali Berisha announced in a cabinet meeting that his government was sending US$100,000 in aid. The government of Armenia donated $500,000 in humanitarian assistance and offered to send a rescue team of 25 people from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. prepared the frigate HMAS Sydney and heavy landing ship HMAS Tobruk to carry helicopters. Australian Army engineers and medical teams would be sent to Japan if this was requested by the Japanese government. Fire and Rescue NSW sent a 76-member Urban Search and Rescue team, some of which had recently been rotated through the Christchurch earthquake recovery effort, and 20