Japan earthquake and tsunami death toll expected to exceed 10,000; survivors worry about dwindling supplies, food
Gallery: : DISASTER IN JAPAN | A massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake and several powerful aftershocks struck the eastern coast of Japan on Friday afternoon, triggering tsunamis that devastated the coastline north of Tokyo.
- View as Single Page
Text Size- Reprints
TOKYO, Japan — The death toll from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami is almost certain to exceed 10,000, Japanese officials said Sunday as hundreds of bodies washed ashore in the hard-hit city of Sendai, and at the southern end of the island the Shinmoedake volcano started erupting again after several quiet weeks.
Meanwhile, the State Department said U.S. citizens, including government workers on non-essential business, “should avoid travel to Japan at this time.” In the three days since an offshore earthquake triggered a tsunami that devastated Japan’s northeast coastline, the island has suffered hundreds of aftershocks, with experts expecting more over the next several weeks.
NHK, Japan’s public broadcasting network, reported that 1,300 people had been confirmed dead. However, in the coastal town of Minami-Sanriku, where little remained after the tsunami’s landfall, 10,000 of the 17,000 residents were missing.
In the Wakabayashi ward of Sendai, 200 to 300 bodies were recently found on beaches, the network reported.
“Our country faces its worst crisis since the end of the war 65 years ago,” Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a nationally televised press conference in Tokyo on Sunday. “I’m convinced that working together with all our might the Japanese people can overcome this.”
