The Japanese earthquake is seen costing AXA , Europe's second-biggest insurer, at least 100 million euros ($140.8 million) before tax, Chief Executive Henri de Castries told French television on Sunday.

AXA has not yet fully pinned down its risk exposure to the catastrophe -- which has killed more than 10,000 people so far -- because the death toll may rise further, he added.

We estimate it should cost us slightly more than 100 million euros before tax, where losses of life and injuries are concerned, and in the tens of millions in terms of industrial risk, de Castries said in an interview with LCI television.

The earthquake struck Japan on March 11 and triggered a powerful tsunami that devastated the country's northeast.

The Japanese government has estimated the total damage to roads, homes, factories and other infrastructure at around $200-310 billion, or up to 6 percent of Japan's GDP, making it the world's costliest disaster.

(Reporting by Lionel Laurent and Laure Bretton)

Japan Quake