Japanese Shelters Report Shortage of Food, Water

Japanese officials report increasing problems in getting food and water to hundreds of thousands of people who remain in makeshift shelters almost a week the nation's worst recorded earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami.

Freezing temperatures and snow compounded the misery as hope faded for finding more people alive in the remains of coastal communities destroyed by Friday's tsunami. Members of a U.S. rescue team working in one coastal city said Thursday they have not found anyone alive.

Death toll

The death count is mounting as rescuers gradually make their way into other communities that have been cut off since the quake because of heavy damage to roads, ports and other infrastructure. The national police put the toll at midday Thursday at more than 5,300 dead and more than 9,300 missing.

Japanese media said more than 20,000 others are known to be trapped and awaiting rescue.

Agriculture ministry officials said they are unable to get ample supplies to more than half a million people in shelters across the country's northeast because of gasoline shortages and the damage to infrastructure. They said 1.25 million meals and almost three-quarters of a million beverage bottles were sent out to five affected provinces between Saturday and Tuesday, but that was far short of the needs.

Traffic jams

The ministry said delivery trucks have been hampered by long lines of cars which block highways while waiting for hours to purchase gasoline. Relief efforts are also hampered by heightened radiation levels in the area of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, which lies between Tokyo and the worst affected areas.

Supplies of heating fuel are also low at many of the shelters, where earthquake victims have had to cope with several nights of sub-freezing temperatures. Tens of thousands of homes have been damaged and whole communities have been washed away, leaving many with nowhere else to go.

Chilly weather

In the coastal city of Ofunato, where several international rescue teams have been searching for survivors, the head of a U.S. team reported that the temperature Wednesday evening was -5 Celsius and more than eight centimeters of snow had fallen.

He said U.S., British and Japanese teams working in the city had divided the area into grids to facilitate a more systematic search, but that no survivors have been found. The chances of finding live survivors drop dramatically a week after a disaster like last week's earthquake.