21 Mar 2011

Warning over Japan quake death toll

9:54 pm on 21 March 2011

Police in Japan say 15,000 people may have been killed in a single prefecture alone by the huge quake and tsunami which struck more than a week ago.

The 9.0 magnitude earthquake on 11 March triggered a tsunami that devastated Japan's north-eastern coast and hit a power plant, triggering a nuclear emergency.

Miyagi prefecture police chief Naoto Takeuchi said he expected that his prefecture alone would need secure facilities to keep the bodies of more than 15,000 people.

The region is one of four in Japan's northeast that took the brunt of the tsunami damage.

As of Monday, 8,649 people have been confirmed as dead, while 13,262 have been reported missing.

The National Police Agency says a total of 349,349 people are in shelters around the country after being evacuated.

Some 242,927 households in the north are without electricity and at least 1.04 million households in 11 prefectures have no running water.

More than 14,500 buildings have been completely destroyed.