July 30 (UPI) — The death toll on the Japanese island of Kyushu from a 7.0 magnitude earthquake climbed to 34, with another 89 people injured, authorities said Thursday.

The Fire Disaster Management Agency confirmed in an update that 7 people had been killed at the Aeon Mall in Kashima on the island’s western seaboard due to a blast and its partial collapse, 11 in Yatsushiro City, and the remainder in surrounding cities and towns.

More than 267,000 people were evacuated from their homes amid a massive ongoing search and rescue operation involving more than 1,400 personnel from as far away as Okayama and air units from neighboring metropolitan areas including Fukuoka and Nagasaki.

As many as 9,000 of those forced to flee their homes, many of them elderly, are being accommodated in evacuation centers while others have been sleeping in cars amid more than 100 aftershocks since the main quake struck on Tuesday afternoon.

More than 30,000 homes were without power amid a heat wave with temperatures forecast to hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the coming days.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government was doing everything it could and thanked leaders from around the world for their messages of solidarity and offers of assistance.

“The Government of Japan is working in earnest to carry out rescue operations and provide assistance to the affected areas. As we continue to assess the situation and needs on the ground, we will carefully consider how the generous offers of support can best be utilized,” wrote Takaichi.

“Once again, I would like to express my deep gratitude for your kind messages of support and offers of assistance,” she added, tagging President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Romanian President Nicusor Dan.

The seismic event is Japan’s deadliest in two-and-half years since 732 people were killed and more than 1,400 were injured in 2024 when a powerful 7.5 magnitude quake struck the Noto Peninsula on the main island of Honshu on New Year’s Day.

The Aeon shopping center in Kumamoto prefecture had only reopened last month upon completion of a redevelopment after it was badly damaged by a wave of deadly earthquakes in April 2016, which killed 278 people in the region.