TOKYO - One month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern regions of Japan thousands of people remain missing and workers are still struggling to regain control of a crippled nuclear power plant.

Since the March 11 9.0-magnitude quake and ensuing tsunami, owner and operator of the Fukushima No 1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has been battling to restore the plant's critical cooling systems as the plant continues to spew radioactive substances into the air and sea.

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Highly toxic water in turbine buildings and a concrete tunnel has been severely hampering restoration efforts and preventing workers from even inspecting the pumping systems.

TEPCO began removing radioactive debris from the plant using unmanned heavy machinery and plans Monday to move flooded contaminated water to a new storage tank.

Following Japan's worst-ever natural disaster more than 14,000 people remain missing as of Monday, Japan's National Police Agency said, and 151,000 survivors are displaced and staying at 2,300 shelters as efforts to build temporary housing in the worst- affected areas has been slowed by the sheer amount of post-quake and tsunami debris.

As of 10 am Sunday, Japan's National Police Agency said that a total of 13,116 people were killed in 12 prefectures in Japan, following the March 11 tragedy.