a japanese research company was assigned to find out the health effects and casualties caused by the disaster. they found that some deaths were early, during evacuation processes, while other deaths gradually happened after the disaster. the agency found out that the cause of these early deaths were due to the disruption of hospital operations, exacerbation of pre-existing health problems and the stress of dramatic changes in life. it is stated that the vast majority of people who died during their evacuation were elderly. 45 patients were reported dead after the evacuation of a hospital in futaba due to lack of food, water and medical care as evacuation was delayed by three days.