The death toll from a powerful earthquake in southwestern Japan rose to 34 on Friday as rescue crews continued a desperate search for survivors after the quake triggered a shopping mall explosion, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes across the region.
The disaster left thousands of households without electricity and tens of thousands without running water. Thousands of residents remained in evacuation shelters or slept in their vehicles, raising concerns among health officials about heat-related illnesses as the region endured intense summer temperatures.
The magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Japan's southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. As search efforts entered a fourth day, authorities had yet to determine how many people remained missing, while the full extent of the damage to homes and infrastructure was still being assessed.
Officials said 34 quake-related deaths had been confirmed, with one additional death still under investigation. Dozens of people were also injured.
More than 79,000 households remained without running water and more than 2,700 were still without electricity as of Friday afternoon. Authorities said more than 9,000 people were staying in evacuation shelters, where additional power sources were being installed to provide air conditioning. Officials hoped to restore electricity to most affected homes by Friday evening.
