Police: Death toll rises to 8,649 in Japan following March 11 great quake

The death toll from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern and eastern Japan and the number of those reported missing came to a combined total of 21,911 as of noon Monday, the National Police Agency said.

The number of deaths reported in a total of 12 prefectures came to 8,649, while people reported by their relatives to be missing climbed to 13,262 in six prefectures. Police have identified about 4,080 bodies, including 2,990 returned to their families, the agency said.

A total of about 350,000 evacuees, including those who fled from the vicinity of the troubled nuclear reactors in Fukushima Prefecture, are now staying at some 2,100 shelters set up by 15 prefectures, Kyodo news agency reported.

''Until now, we have asked (relief workers) to prioritize rescuing afflicted people. We now want them to give priority to assisting people who are living in the shelters,'' Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai told reporters after calling at a Ground Self-Defense Force camp in Sendai, the local capital, to encourage troops on a disaster mission.

In the hard-hit city of Ishinomaki, also in Miyagi, the governor handed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, requesting aid for reconstruction, to a visiting ruling party lawmaker there, as Kan canceled his scheduled visit to the city Monday due to bad weather.

Murai later toured shelters to comfort quake victims.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said it had enlisted some 5,900 caregivers to send to the quake-hit areas to help address a shortage of staff to look after the elderly.

Up to some 28,000 seniors can be accommodated in nursing homes in distant locations, the ministry added.

Great difficulty persists in delivering relief goods to quake victims, 11 days after the magnitude 9.0 quake, the biggest recorded in the country.

In Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, which has accommodated some 14,000 evacuees, people who took refuge at an elementary school building have been unable to eat frozen food due to a lack of electricity needed to microwave it. They are also still waiting for a large supply of underwear, local officials said.