Dozens of Vietnamese including migrant workers and research students were reported to be living and working in the center of the deadly quake that hit northeastern Japan on March 11, said Vietnamese officials.

A factory building has collapsed in Sukagawa city, Fukushima prefecture, in northern Japan on March 11

The region was hit by the super huge 8.9-magnitude quake and tsunami waves of up to 10m high. At least 1,200 people were reported dead or unaccounted for in the country\'s biggest quake ever and the seventh largest on record, said press reports.

But no casualties related to Vietnamese have been confirmed so far.

According to Nguyen Gia Liem, head of Overseas Labour Management Department, the Department has yet to have official statistics about the quake’s damage and has yet to contact those workers.

“We have just heard that four Vietnamese female workers in quake-hit Sendai port city were rescued and they are now in safe condition," Liem said.

Meanwhile, Dao Cong Hai, deputy head of the Department, said that the Vietnamese embassy in Japan is struggling to gather updated information about Vietnamese workers to offer timely assistance.

Many families are anxious to know about the fate of their relatives in Japan - around 18,000 Vietnamese workers and students.

Hai added that many places in northeastern Japan have been struck with panic and chaos.

He promised the embassy will do their best to soon announce information relating to Vietnamese living in or near the quake center.

In Tokyo, Nguyen Xuan Vui – general director of Airseco Air Service and Trading Company – an agency sending a large number of Vietnamese workers to Japan – told Dan Tri that they have yet to receive any information about human and material losses.