About 2,000 bodies were found Monday on two shores in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture following last Friday' s devastating Magnitude 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami, Kyodo News reported.

About 1,000 bodies were found coming ashore on hardest-hit Miyagi's Ojika Peninsula and another 1,000 have been spotted in the town of Minamisanriku where the prefectural government has been unable to contact about 10,000 people, or over half the local population, the report said.,

The findings will significantly increase the death toll from the powerful quake and ensuing tsunami. Japan's police authorities have so far confirmed 1,597 deaths and 1,481 people missing across the affected areas in northeastern and eastern Japan.

The Miyagi prefectural government has decided to ask for help from other prefectures as work to cremate bodies is falling behind, according to the report.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2011)