Members of Japan Self-Defense Force pray for the body of a tsunami victim wrapped in a tarp in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan on Sunday. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
But for many Japanese people, the search now is not for survivors -- it is for the bodies of their loved ones. In the town of Otsuchi, Keiko Chiba pointed to where she believes her husband's body may be. Even if he survived the tsunami, she says, a resulting gas explosion that burned through the town likely killed him.
Akihito Yamaguchi, in the town of Kamaichi, lost his 71-year-old father in the tsunami. He had been holding onto his father, but the force of the waves were too strong. Both his parents washed away before his eyes. He survived when the tsunami's waters flung him against a tree.