Quake death toll reaches 12 after body found at construction site

Sendai, June 21 Kyodo - The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit Iwate and Miyagi prefectures last Saturday reached 12 on Friday after a body was found at a construction site in Kurihara, Miyagi, police said.

The body has been identified as that of Mitsuru Igarashi, a 32-year-old
construction worker from Yamagata Prefecture who worked at the site, according
to the police. The bodies of two other workers were found at the site
previously.

As of Friday afternoon, the number of people who sustained injuries as a result
of the quake stood at 312 in five prefectures -- Iwate, Akita, Miyagi, Yamagata
and Fukushima -- while almost 300 people were staying in shelters, according to
rescue authorities.

Four houses were destroyed and six heavily damaged by the quake. The number of
houses partially damaged reached 379.

The Miyagi prefectural government has decided to start building temporary
housing as early as Monday for those who cannot use their own homes because of
damage or severed road access.==Kyodo