A magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Japan's southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday has killed at least 34 people, with one additional death still under investigation, the Kumamoto prefectural government confirmed Friday. The quake damaged more than 1,500 buildings, including 179 that were destroyed, and left tens of thousands of residents without water and electricity across the region.

Nearly half of the confirmed deaths were tied to two major incidents: the collapse of a chimney at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in the Yatsushiro area, where nine people were killed and 11 rescued before the search operation concluded, and an explosion at an Aeon Mall shopping center in the town of Kashima, where seven people were confirmed dead and 11 were rescued from the partially collapsed structure. The mall had been crowded with roughly 3,000 shoppers when the quake struck; they were evacuated to a parking lot before a blast tore through a section where staff remained.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged authorities to secure water supplies by doing 'whatever it takes' and called for close coordination between the military and relevant agencies. As of Friday afternoon, more than 79,000 homes remained without tap water and over 2,700 were still without electricity, though the local power company said full restoration of power was achieved by Friday evening. Officials also warned of a fuel shortage caused by disabled gas stations and disrupted deliveries, leaving many evacuees struggling to run air conditioning in their vehicles amid temperatures approaching 36 degrees Celsius.

More than 9,000 people were sheltering in evacuation centers as of Friday, where authorities were adding power sources to provide air conditioning in response to concerns about heat-related illness. Japanese officials described Friday afternoon as a critical threshold in rescue efforts, noting that survival chances for those trapped under debris typically decline after the first 72 hours. Smaller-scale searches continued at collapsed houses in southern Kumamoto, and it remained unclear how many people were still missing.

The earthquake is the deadliest to strike Kumamoto prefecture in a decade. A 2016 quake in the same region killed 275 people and remains the benchmark for seismic disaster response in southwestern Japan, which sits in one of the world's most active earthquake zones. Prime Minister Takaichi also urged residents to remain vigilant for strong aftershocks as relief and recovery operations continued.