Residents of Japan’s quake-hit southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto are working to clear their homes in intense heat, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi briefly visited Kumamoto Prefecture on Monday for the first time since a magnitude 7.1 quake hit Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu last Tuesday. The heat and a lack of water have added to the challenges in the severely damaged areas. The quake killed more than 30 people, including one who died of apparent heat stroke while taking shelter in a car in hot weather. Residents put out heaps of debris, broken furniture and damaged appliances for collection, while in the towns of Uki and Hikawa, construction of temporary housing began.

Officials say the latest victim from a powerful earthquake that struck Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto last week is an elderly woman who apparently developed heat stroke while taking shelter in a car. The fatality came as concerns of heat-related illness grow in the area that is also suffering extreme temperatures. The magnitude 7.1 quake hit Kumamoto on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. The death toll is now 36. Authorities have ended a massive search-and-rescue operation at a collapsed shopping mall in southwest Japan after retrieving five people and the bodies of seven others over the past five days.

KUMAMOTO, Japan (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck the Kumamoto area on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. A shopping mall, a…

Thousands of survivors of a powerful earthquake in southwestern Japan have spent Friday in crowded shelters or sleeping in cars as they face shortages of water and fuel and punishing summer temperatures that have stoked fears of heat-related illness. The death toll rose to 34, the Kumamoto prefectural government said, as rescuers raced to find those still missing after the quake triggered a mall explosion, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes. As of Friday, search operations continue, but the number of missing remains unknown. Nearly 80,000 homes are without water.

Kumamoto government says the death toll from the southwestern Japan quake climbs to 34.

The Kumamoto prefectural government says the powerful earthquake that hit southwestern Japan earlier this week has now killed at least 25 people. The magnitude 7.1 earthquake on Tuesday set off an explosion at a mall, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes in the Kumamoto area on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu. Time was running out to find survivors as rescuers continued to work. The total number of those missing was unclear. The quake left at least 86 people injured, five of them seriously, the prefectural government said.

The Kumamoto prefecture says deaths from a quake in southwestern Japan have climbed to 23.

Soldiers and emergency workers are combing through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people in southwestern Japan. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit a day earlier in the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu. The prefectural government said it left at least 62 people injured, six of them seriously. The tally has been steadily growing, fanning fears it may continue to rise. It remains unclear how many people might still be missing.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi says death toll from earthquake has risen to 13 with many injured and missing.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 has shaken Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, leaving dozens of people missing or injured. The quake caused part of a shopping center in the town of Kashima to collapse on Tuesday and also a chimney collapsed at a paper factory. A tsunami advisory was issued but quickly lifted. Japan’s prime minister said there's been damage to roads, bridges and buildings. Shinkansen bullet trains and local trains in Kyushu were suspended for safety checks. Authorities said there were no reports of damage to major public facilities or infrastructure, including three nearby nuclear power plants. The Japan Meteorological Agency urges residents to be cautious over the next few days.