Vital infrastructure was gradually being restored Friday in devastated areas of the Tohoku region but the fate of tens of thousands of people remained unknown, and Miyagi's governor suggested survivors should relocate to other parts of Japan for now.
The death toll has reached 6,911 as of 7 p.m., exceeding the 6,434 marked in the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, the National Police Agency said. The total number of dead and unaccounted for in the largest natural catastrophe in postwar Japan topped 17,000.
Around 90,000 rescue workers, including police officers and Self-Defense Forces personnel, have reached some 26,000 survivors so far.