Rescue workers used chain saws and hand picks Monday to dig out bodies in Japan's devastated coastal towns
TAKAJO, Japan - A Japanese police official said 1,000 washed up bodies were found scattered on Monday across the coastline of Miyagi prefecture. The official declined to be named, citing department policy.The bodies washed up along Japan’s coastline, crematoriums were overwhelmed and rescue workers ran out of body bags as the nation faced the grim reality of its mounting humanitarian, economic and nuclear crisis on Monday after a calamitous tsunami.
Millions of people were facing a fourth night without water, food or heating in near freezing temperatures in the devastated northeast. Meanwhile, a third reactor at a nuclear power plant lost its cooling capacity, raising fears of a meltdown, while the stock market plunged over the likelihood of huge losses by Japanese industries including big names such as Toyota and Honda.
The discovery raised the official death toll to about 2,800 but the Miyagi police chief has said that more than 10,000 people are estimated to have died in his province alone, which has a population of 2.3 million. In one town in a neighbouring prefecture, the crematorium was unable to handle the crush of bodies being brought in for funerals.
Friday’s double tragedy has caused unimaginable deprivation for people of this industrialized country – Asia’s richest – which hasn’t seen such hardship since World War II. In many areas there is no running water, no power and four to five hour waits for gasoline. People are suppressing hunger with instant noodles or rice balls while dealing with the loss of loved ones and homes.
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