Japan tsunami: Toll tops 10,000 two weeks after disaster

Tokyo, Mar 25: The official death toll caused by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan has topped 10,000, while around 250,000 people are still taking shelter in some 1,900 evacuation centres, two weeks after the devastation that has left the country in a crisis situation.

Damage to houses and roads is estimated at least at 16 trillion to 25 trillion yen, while radiation leaks at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi power plant have caused widespread public anxiety, the Kyodo news agency reports.

Japan's National Police Agency has said that over 10,019 people have succumbed to the tragedy while 17,541 are still missing, the report said.

Police in Miyagi Prefecture, which has been severely damaged, have reportedly posted information about more than 2,000 recovered bodies, clothing and body type on their website so that they could be identified by their dear ones.

Many dead bodies are reportedly being buried without cremation in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures due to the lack of sufficient capacity for cremation, while nearly 100 bodies have already been buried in such manner in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi.

While highways and ports in the disaster-hit areas have reopened, part of the bullet train service on the Tohoku Shinkasen Line is still suspended without a clear timeframe for its resumption, and 55 sewerage disposal plants remain at a standstill, the report added.

Meanwhile, the nuclear crisis has led authorities in urging people not to give tap water to infants due to radioactive contamination.

Three workers at the Fukushima plant have reportedly been exposed to water at the plant that contained radioactive materials 10,000 times the normal level.

ANI