The confirmed death toll from last Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan has risen to 7,197, police told Kyodo news on Saturday.
About 11,000 remain missing.
Workers are close to restarting cooling systems for reactors and spent fuel storage pools at the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where firefighters continue to spray water on overheated fuel rods in a desperate attempt to avert a meltdown.
MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti)
