As bodies washed ashore, firefighters were digging others out of the debris using pickaxes and chain saws. Funeral homes and crematoriums are overwhelmed, and officials have run out of body bags and coffins.
The official death toll rose to nearly 1,900, but the discovery of thousands of bodies washed in by the sea and other reports of deaths suggest the true number is much higher.
In Miyagi Prefecture, where the police chief has estimated there were 10,000 deaths, authorities said 1,000 bodies were found scattered across the coast. The Kyodo news agency reported that 2,000 bodies washed up on two shorelines in Miyagi.
Most Japanese opt to cremate their dead. With so many bodies, the government yesterday waived a rule requiring permission from local authorities before cremation or burial, to speed up funerals, said Health Ministry official Yukio Okuda.
The town of Soma has only one crematorium, which can handle 18 bodies a day, said an official, Katsuhiko Abe. “We are overwhelmed and are asking other cites to help us deal with bodies,’’ Abe said
Hajime Sato, a government official in Iwate Prefecture, one of the hardest hit, said deliveries of supplies constituted just 10 percent of what is needed. Body bags and coffins were running so short that the government may turn to foreign funeral homes for help, he said.
The pulverized coast has been hit by hundreds of aftershocks, the latest one a 6.2 magnitude quake that was followed by a new tsunami scare yesterday.
As sirens wailed in Soma, the worst hit town in Fukushima Prefecture, soldiers abandoned their search operations and yelled to residents: “Find high ground! Get out of here!’’
The warning turned out to be a false alarm and interrupted the efforts of search parties.
Though Japanese officials have refused to speculate on the death toll, Indonesian geologist Hery Harjono, who dealt with the 2004 Asian tsunami, said it would be “a miracle really if it turns out to be less than 10,000’’ dead.
The 2004 disaster killed 230,000 people — of which only 184,000 bodies were found.
