Millions of people in Japan's devastated northeast were spending a fourth night without water, food or heating in near-freezing temperatures, as tens of thousands of rescue workers struggled to reach them.
As bodies washed up on the coast, injured survivors, children and elderly crammed into makeshift shelters, often without medicine. By today, 550,000 people had been moved after the earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 10,000.
The government has said it expects the death toll from Friday's earthquake and tsunami to top 10,000 but many experts say it could be much higher. The quake and tsunami killed people in more than a dozen of Japan's 47 prefectures and rescue workers are continuing to search the ravaged northeastern coastal cities for survivors.
The humanitarian crisis is unfolding on multiple fronts - from a sudden rise in newly orphaned children to shortages of water, food, fuel and electricity to overflowing toilets in overwhelmed shelters and erratic care of traumatised survivors.
"It is the elderly who have been hit the hardest," said Patrick Fuller of the International Federation of Red Cross in Ishinomaki, one of several coastal cities devastated by the swirling wall of waves. "The tsunami engulfed half the town and many lie shivering uncontrollably under blankets. They are suffering from hypothermia having been stranded in their homes without water or electricity."
Local officials had lost contact with about 30,000 people, according to a survey by Kyodo News, raising concerns of a dramatic increase in the number of dead as authorities grapple with Japan's biggest emergency since the second World War.
Roads and rail, power and ports have been crippled across much of the northeast of Japan's main island Honshu, hampering relief efforts. The government has sent 100,000 troops to lead the aid effort. It has sent 120,000 blankets, 120,000 bottles of water and 110,000 litres of petrol plus food to the affected areas. However, electricity will take days to restore.
Around 70 countries have offered assistance.
Hundreds of foreign rescue workers are assisting quake and tsunami victims but the United Nations does not plan to mount a bigger relief operation unless requested, UN aid officials said today
"People are exhausted both physically and mentally," said Yasunobu Sasaki, the principal of a school converted into a shelter in Rikuzentakata, a nearly flattened village of 24,500 people in far-northern Iwate prefecture. There was not enough food for three meals a day and no heating, he said. Sanitation was also a problem. His shelter has fewer than 10 temporary toilets and several makeshift wooden toilets with a hole in the ground.
"That's not enough for the around 1,800 people here," he said, adding medicine for the chronically ill was dwindling.
In one town, the crematorium was unable to handle the crush of bodies being brought in for funerals. "We have already begun cremations, but we can only handle 18 bodies a day. We are overwhelmed and are asking other cites to help us deal with bodies. We only have one crematorium in town," said Katsuhiko Abe, an official in Soma.
"People are surviving on little food and water. Things are simply not coming," said Hajime Sato, a government official in Iwate prefecture, one of the three hardest-hit. He said authorities were receiving just 10 per cent of the food and other supplies they need.
Body bags and coffins were running so short that the government may turn to foreign funeral homes for help, he said. "We have requested funeral homes across the nation to send us many body bags and coffins. But we simply don't have enough," he said. "We just did not expect such a thing to happen. It's just overwhelming."All along the ravaged northeastern coast, there were similar scenes of desperation and destruction. The wall of water transported homes inland, swept ships into fields, upended cars and left trains scattered across fields like toys.
At the Red Cross hospital in Ishinomaku, Miyagi, hundreds of injured people spilled out into the corridors and reception halls. An army helicopter ferried more to the hospital emergency landing area. Old people rescued from across the prefecture were laid on the floor as overwhelmed staff struggled to treat them. "I've never seen anything like it," said one nurse. "It's like the end of the world."
Snow or rain is expected on Wednesday in some regions, adding urgency to relief efforts.
US president Barack Obama today reiterated US offers of assistance to quake-hit Japa , saying he is “heartbroken” by the scenes of devastation there. "We will stand with Japan in the difficult days ahead," he said.
Agencies