Some 9,500 people are unaccounted for in one of the worst-hit areas by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in north-eastern Japan, officials said.

With many houses, cars and crops in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture washed away by powerful tsunami after the deadly earthquake on Friday, many of the missing may be victims of the walls of water, prefectural officials said.

Open gallery view Houses clogged with debris and boats swept by the tsunami in Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan on March 12, 2011. Credit: Reuters

The figure is more than half of the population of about 17,000 in the town on the Pacific coast.

Moreover, Kyodo news agency reported Saturday that more than 1,700 people are likely dead or missing following the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan.

About 300,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and that number is likely to rise with the government increasing the size of an evacuation area around two nuclear power plants in Fukushima in northern Japan, Kyodo said.

Police accounts put the death toll at 637 and those missing at 653, but the total number is likely to be much bigger as 200-300 dead bodies were being transported in the city of Sendai and another 200 were being taken to gyms in other parts of Miyagi prefecture, Kyodo said.