Some 6,000 people dead or missing in Japan

TOKYO, March 15 (Itar-Tass) -- The Japanese authorities officially
confirmed on Tuesday the death of 2,475 people as a result of the most
powerful earthquake in the history of the country with magnitude 9.0,
which hit the north-eastern part of the Honshu Island on March 11. Another 2,000 were injured. Some 3,600 people were reported missing, the central police department of Japan reported on Tuesday.
The rescue teams report finding hundreds of dead bodies on the Pacific coast. Communication has not been restored with dozens of residents of the coastal cities and villages, which were also destroyed by the tsunami.
Some 8,000 people are accommodated in provisional shelters in the places, which the rescue workers find it difficult to reach. They cannot deliver food and essentials to them. According to Yoshihiro Murai, Governor of Miyagi Prefecture, many hospitals experience a serious shortage of medical supplies and fuel. They cannot give quality medical aid to the wounded, whose number is growing.
The radiation level perceptibly grew in some regions in the North-East of Japan as a result of an accident at power units of the Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant. "The danger of its further growth continues to be real," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Tuesday. According to the latest reports of the fire-fighting service of Japan, some 80,000 buildings were totally destroyed by powerful earth tremors and the gigantic tsunami.