Official death toll @ 687. 650 still missing, unclear if includes 200-300 other bodies.

[uppityperson]

Meanwhile the latest report from Kyodo news agency puts the official death toll at 687, with another 650 people missing. But it is not clear whether this figure includes between 200-300 bodies being transferred to Sendai city.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[hlthe2b]

1. Given the destruction from the Tsunami on top of the earthquake

I find it hard to imagine there would not be many many many more dead. I hope not, but that seems almost inexplicable--as though all those cars, and houses and other buildings were not occupied. :shrug: My thoughts and prayers are with the Japanese people. I don't even know where one would begin to deal with all that destruction.

[mvd]

2. My thoughts and prayers are with Japan

It is a terrible tragedy.

[uppityperson]

3. 1,700, tens of thousands still missing

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8378631/Japan-earthquake-tens-of-thousands-missing-as-full-devastation-emerges.html
Local authorities reported that almost 10,000 people – out of a population of 17,000 – were missing from the fishing port of Minamisanriku, which was engulfed by huge waves that swept inland for six miles. The earthquake was so powerful that Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the Earth's axis shifted 9.8in <25cm>. The US Geological Survey said the main island of Japan had moved 7.8ft <2.4m>.
(clip)

In Rikuzentakata city, one of the worst-hit areas, some 5,000 of the town's 8,000 homes were destroyed, with the army claiming to have found up to 400 bodies.

The wreckage of one of four missing trains was discovered in pieces yesterday in the mud at the side of a track outside Shinchi. It is not known how many passengers were on board nor how many survived. The other three trains had still not been found.

The official death toll reached 1,700 last night but that is expected to rise sharply in the coming days.