Japan earthquake death toll tops 8,000

The confirmed death toll from last week's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan has risen to 8,133, police told Kyodo news agency on Sunday.

As many as 12,272 people remain missing. About 360,000 people have been evacuated from the disaster area and accommodated at temporary shelters in the country's 14 prefectures, the agency reported.

Earlier reports said 7,348 people were killed and 10,947 were missing as a result of the powerful tremor and tsunami in Japan's northeast.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the devastating earthquake and tsunami may top 15,000 in the Miyagi prefecture alone, the local police chief told Kyodo news agency on Sunday.

Trace amounts of radioactive iodine were discovered in tap water in Tokyo in the wake of the disaster at the crippled nuclear plant Fukushima, Japanese media reported.

Radiation above the national safety level was also found in the water supply in five other prefectures, said an official from Japan's science ministry, which is monitoring radiation levels.

MOSCOW, March 20 (RIA Novosti)