With access to devastated areas improved by the removal of debris, the search for victims has gradually widened, rescue officials said Thursday, the seventh day since catastrophe struck the Tohoku region.
However, fuel shortages have hampered the delivery of relief supplies to shelters where survivors are staying, while also limiting the use of heavy machinery and heaters, they said.
The lack of relief supplies and adequate medical care has started to take its toll. The Fukushima Prefectural Government said Thursday 14 people died after being transferred to an evacuation center in Iwaki from a hospital in the town of Okuma in accordance with the evacuation directive given after the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.