According to public broadcaster NHK, some 430,000 people are living in emergency shelters or with relatives and another 24,000 people are stranded. As rescue workers are struggling to reach the victims, it was estimated that millions of people were spending a fourth night Monday without water, food or heating in the low- temperature northeastern region.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency has counted that the number of buildings that were completely or partially destroyed stood at more than 70,000 as by 11.00 p.m. Monday.

A total of 550,000 people have been evacuated and Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a Monday morning meeting of the government disaster headquarters that emergency workers have so far rescued 15,000 survivors.

The number of dead or unaccounted for following the magnitude 9. 0 quake came to about 5,900 after around 1,000 bodies were found Monday on several shores on the Oshika Peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture, while police and firefighters worked to recover another 200 to 300 bodies in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi, according to a Kyodo News report.

Local police counted that the death toll stood at 1,886 with 2, 369 missing as of 8 p.m. Monday.

Seventy-two hours after the quake and ensuing tsunami, around 10,000 people remained unaccounted for in Minamisanryuku, more than half of the town's total population of 18,000, making it one of the deadliest disaster-hit areas.

The Japan Tourism Agency reported that about 1,000 of the 4,900 tourists who were visiting the devastated areas could not be contacted by Monday afternoon.

A Kyodo News survey shows that local governments in the devastated areas are unable to contact up to 30,000 residents by Monday.

Many people in the devastated areas could hardly recover from the nightmare. "The highest tide of tsunami was 20 meters. It swallows everything on its path," recalled Minamisanryuku resident Masafumi Yamauchi, 62. "We were shocked, terrified and numb."

Yamauchi was working in his fish store near the coast. After hearing the tsunami alarm, he escaped to Shizugawa Middle School, a shelter atop of a nearby hill.