Those tallies are likely to overlap, but a police spokesman from one of the of the hardest-hit prefectures, Miyagi, estimates that the deaths will top 15,000 in that region alone. Police in other devastated areas declined to estimate eventual tolls, but said the confirmed deaths in their areas already number about 3,800.

The National Police Agency said the overall number of bodies collected so far stood at 9,523, while 16,094 have been listed as missing.