At least 1,500 people were reported dead or missing from Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan. But the toll could rise further as the nation tries to comprehend the enormity of the catastrophe.
At least 1,500 people were reported dead or missing from Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan. But the toll could rise further as the nation tries to comprehend the enormity of the catastrophe.
National Police Agency officials said entire cities were swallowed by the giant tsunami that flooded coastal areas with seawater, mud and debris. Fires continued to rage uncontrolled in some areas Saturday.
Contact had not been made with officials of some communities believed to have been affected by the magnitude-8.8 earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in tremor-prone Japan.
According to police, 413 people in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Tokyo and six other prefectures were confirmed dead as of 11:30 a.m. Saturday, while 784 people were reported missing.
In addition, about 300 corpses were found washed up in the Arahama district of Sendai's Wakabayashi Ward and the coastal area of Natori, also in Miyagi Prefecture.
NPA and internal affairs ministry officials said the entire city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture had been inundated.
The tsunami reached to the third floor of the Rikuzentakata city hall building and also destroyed the local fire department.
Some residents said the city, part of which covers a peninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean, had been split in two by flooding brought by tsunami.
Around 5,000 of the 8,000 households in the city had been affected by the disaster, and homes located about 10 kilometers inland had collapsed.
Rescue workers in helicopters were pulling people from the tops of buildings in flooded areas.
Iwate prefectural officials said they have been unable to reach officials at several municipalities along the coastline, including Rikuzentakata.
In Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, about 30 elderly people staying at a nursing home were reportedly washed away in the tsunami.
Miyagi Prefecture Governor Yoshihiro Murai, who inspected the coast by helicopter on Friday, said the damage appeared to be particularly serious around cities such as Ishinomaki. He added that he could only "confirm two or three roofs" in the flooded town of Minami-Sanriku.
A similar situation was observed in Sendai's Miyagino Ward, where Murai commented that "only the roofs of houses remained."
The city offices of Onagawa and Minami-Sanriku were not functioning Saturday because of the flooding.
Officials of the Self-Defense Forces said in addition to the widespread destruction by the tsunami, fires continued to raze an area measuring about 1 kilometer in diameter in Kesennuma.
SDF firefighters were still trying to put out flames at a turbine facility at Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa nuclear power plant.
The entire city of Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, south of Miyagi, was completely submerged. City officials acknowledged they were unable to grasp the entirety of the damage.
About 450 people were stranded at schools near the coastline. Unconfirmed reports cited a large number of corpses floating in the area.
About 1,800 households near the coast in Minami-Soma had been wiped out, officials said.
A dam burst in Sukagawa further inland in Fukushima Prefecture, causing major flooding of a river. Local residents said several houses--and people--had been swept away.
Wide areas of Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, were also flooded.
Fire department officials in Kita-Ibaraki, Ibaraki Prefecture, said about 30 houses near a port had been washed away by the tsunami.