Japan Earthquake: 8000 dead and 12,000 still missing

Japan earthquake 2011

Japan’s police agency says more than 8,000 people are dead and more than 12,000 are listed as missing after last week’s earthquake and tsunami.

A week after the disasters devastated the northeast coast, the National Police Agency said Sunday that the number of bodies collected so far stood at 8,133, while 12,272 people were listed as missing.

The toll has been steadily rising as searchers find bodies in the wasteland left behind by the 9.0-magnitude quake and the massive tsunami it unleashed.

At the same time, the number of missing has risen as survivors and relatives come to terms with the twin disasters and contact police regarding loved ones who remain unaccounted for.

The two lists may overlap. Many of the bodies collected so far have not yet been identified, police say.

So it is possible many of the unidentified bodies will match names on the missing list once their identities are confirmed.