The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit southwestern Japan this week has risen to 34, local officials said on Thursday, as rescuers braved sweltering heat and raced to find survivors under the rubble two days after the temblor.
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s main islands, on Tuesday. Its epicenter was near Uto, a coastal city about 30 miles south of Kumamoto City, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake collapsed homes and buildings, trapping some people inside structures, according to the authorities. It sparked fires in Kumamoto City, the regional capital, which has a population of more than 700,000.
On Thursday, rescue crews were searching for people in a shopping center in the nearby town of Kashima. Seven people died after the center’s second floor collapsed, prefectural officials said on Thursday, while five others have been rescued. It was unclear how many people might still be trapped.
The bodies of eight victims had been recovered from a paper factory, where a chimney had collapsed, and two people had been rescued, prefectural officials said. Crews were still searching for one person in connection to the factory.
Work was underway to restore electricity and water to areas affected by outages, with about 100,000 households in the prefecture still without water, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said at a news conference on Thursday. Nearly 20,000 households were without power on Thursday, according to officials.
About 9,800 people were being housed in evacuation centers, Ms. Takaichi said. She warned that the displaced residents could be at risk from intense heat as the region experienced sweltering temperatures exceeding 95 degrees Fahrenheit, or 35 degrees Celsius.
“We are at a critical juncture where supporting the victims, including ensuring a safe and sanitary environment in evacuation centers, is of the utmost importance,” she said.
