Deaths in Japan quake may top 10,000

REUTERS - The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami that struck northeast Japan could top 10,000, national broadcaster NHK quoted a police official as saying.
"The death toll is almost certain to rise above 10,000," said Naoto Takeuchi, chief of Miyagi prefecture's policy force, according to NHK.
Miyagi is one of the areas worst hit by the disaster, with many of its towns and cities along the Pacific coast ravaged by the quake and the tsunami in addition to the fires that followed.
Estimates so far have been for more than 1,800 people likely to have been killed or missing, according to Kyodo news agency.