TOKYO (Nikkei)—The number of casualties from the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 has surpassed 27,000, with 13,116 people confirmed dead and 14,377 still missing, according to a National Police Agency report released Monday morning.
At 2:46 p.m. Monday, precisely one month after the magnitude-9.0 quake struck eastern Japan, people throughout the devastated Tohoku region on the island of Honshu, including individuals at evacuation centers and schools, are set to observe a moment of silence for the victims of the disaster.
The number of victims may rise further, as the authorities are still struggling to grasp the extent of the destruction in some areas. These efforts have also been complicated by the fact that the powerful tsunami that followed the quake washed away entire villages. Search operations near Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (9501) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have also been stalled by the onset of the nuclear crisis.
According to the National Police Agency, about 147,000 people are staying in evacuation centers throughout 18 prefectures. A number of people have taken shelter far from their homes.
One month after the quake and tsunami, aftershocks continue to ripple through the most devastated parts of the country.
Electricity has become available again, other than in a few areas. But many people throughout the worst-hit parts of the country still do not have running water or gas services.
Sendai Airport in Miyagi Prefecture, where runways were swamped by the tsunami, is scheduled to partly resume operations on Wednesday. The Tohoku Expressway, meanwhile, reopened at the end of March.
East Japan Railway Co. (9020) is rushing to resume its bullet train service between the city of Fukushima and Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture as soon as possible. But the firm is still unable to say when it might restart local train services in areas along the Pacific coast that were slammed by the tsunami.
The Nikkei, Monday, April 11, 2011