The Japan The National Police Agency said that the catastrophic March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami have left 7,320 people dead and 11,370 others unaccounted for in Japan.

As the death toll increase search and rescue efforts have been hampered by snowfall in the hardest-hit areas, said spokesman Patrick Fuller of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Meanwhile, the situation at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is at a “Level 5″ incident, Japan’s nuclear safety agency said Friday. The rating is based on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, with 1 being least and 7 being most severe. It is on the level with the 1979 incident at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island.

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