Identification of dead taxing as toll soars (Japan)

[ensho]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110317a2.html


Rescue operations continued Wednesday, with 80,000 Self-Defense Forces members and police officers mobilized in the devastated areas, where temperatures have dropped to midwinter levels.

The National Police Agency said it has confirmed 4,255 deaths in 12 prefectures, while 8,194 people remained unaccounted for in six prefectures as of 8 p.m.

The death toll, however, will inevitably climb as the recovery of bodies, mainly in the tsunami-hit coastal areas, steps up after waters recede and tsunami warnings abate.

-snip-

Little headway has been made on autopsies, as already understaffed police forces strain to help efforts to identify the dead. Given the situation, the NPA has instructed police to accelerate the autopsy procedures by using photographs. Miyagi police are now considering asking volunteers to handle next of kin so its officers can focus on postmortem examinations.

In the severely hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, local police started announcing the names, ages and addresses of victims based on belongings recovered with their bodies, an exceptional move.

-snip-

In Miyagi Prefecture, fuel for cremations at several crematoriums will soon be exhausted.

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[jannyk]

1. That data is out of date -Death Toll 6,911 (NHKNews)

Japanese police say they have so far confirmed 6,911 deaths in the earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan last week. The figure surpasses the death toll for the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.

Police say 10,316 remain missing. They suspect that many other people have not been reported as missing because entire families were lost in the disaster.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_24.html