Survivors search desperately for signs of hope

It is still not possible to quantify the human costs of last Friday's earthquake and tsunami. Tens of thousands are still missing – in the case of the northern town of Minamisanriku, as many as 10,000 of the town's 17,000 residents are unaccounted for.

The large number of missing inevitably means the final death toll is set to rise exponentially above the latest government estimate. David Warren, UK ambassador to Japan, said his team is working through a "large list" of missing Britons.