Strong earthquakes that hit the southern Japanese Island of Kyushu since Thursday have caused 44 deaths. The death toll rose as search and rescue personnel today recovered the bodies of two people who had been proclaimed missing a day earlier in the the Kumamoto village of Minamiaso.

A 6.5-magnitude quake rocked Kyushu on Thursday and was followed by a more powerful 7.3-magnitude quake on Saturday. Local officials say as many as eight people may still be unaccounted for. Over 200,000 people have spent their days and nights in evacuation centers on the island of Kyushu. About 110-thousand people are scattered across 720 centers in Kumamoto alone.