The grim search for survivors continues in areas devastated by Friday’s magnitude 9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami as the mayor of a northeastern city says his town has been wiped out.
Mayor Kameyama Hiroshi tells Kyodo News that 10,000 people remain missing in the city of Ishinomaki. Before the tsunami wiped out the coastal town, 164,000 people were living there.
Japan’s National Police Agency says more than 12,000 people are reported missing or dead. The official death toll is above 4,000, but officials believe it will exceed 10,000.
The country’s Defense Ministry tells Japan news agency NHK that more than 25,000 have been rescued and another 23,000 are still believed to be stranded on islets near the coast.
The latest death toll numbers come as the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that three reactors had partially melted down. Yukiya Amano, the head of the nuclear watchdog agency, says he plans on going to Japan as soon as possible.
