Rescuers pulled a man from the rubble of a destroyed building in northeast Japan on Saturday, eight days after a massive earthquake and tsunami, a Self Defence Forces spokesman said.

Japanese rescuers search through debris for bodies in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture.

Troops "recovered a young man from a half-destroyed house in Kesennuma city (Miyagi prefecture). He has no visible injuries but he was in such shock that he was unable to speak," said spokesman Hiroyuki Nakayama.

He was later transported to a nearby hospital, Nakayama added. The man was identified as Katsuharu Moriya, aged in his 20s, Kyodo News agency reported, quoting another SDF official.

A 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11 triggered a giant tsunami that flattened Japan\'s northeast coast and killed 7,197, according to the latest police death toll, with almost 11,000 officially listed as missing.