At least 13 people are dead after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture and rescuers are frantically searching for survivors trapped beneath the rubble, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi says.

“Even now, there are people waiting to be rescued, and this is a race against time. We will marshal all available resources on the ground to save and rescue as many people as possible,” Takaichi told reporters at her office in Tokyo.

“It’s a race against time,” she said.

The quake knocked out power to thousands of homes and ruptured roads across the region.

The prefectural government said rescuers working at the scene had taken eight people out of the Aeon Mall Kumamoto shopping centre, where a blast occurred following the quake.

Of those eight, two women in their 20s were confirmed dead, while one other person was reported to be in cardiopulmonary arrest. The five others were injured, but officials said their condition was not life-threatening.

Emergency fire rescue teams, police and Self-Defence Force personnel were working together at the scene overnight, concentrating search operations on areas of the building where calls for help had been received.

Around 20 to 30 mall workers were unaccounted for ⁠on Tuesday, public broadcaster NHK said.

Blast at shopping mall in Kumamoto after quake

An explosion occurred at Aeon Mall Kumamoto on July 28, causing the second floor to collapse and trapping multiple people inside, according to fire officials.

For updates: https://t.co/bZpiKm94yl pic.twitter.com/Yf0wGeglbw

— NHK WORLD News (@NHKWORLD_News) July 28, 2026

Earlier, Takaichi said authorities were still assessing the full extent of the damage in the area, which was devastated by a deadly quake a decade ago.

“We have already been informed that people have been injured. Power outages and fires have occurred in some areas, and there has also been damage to roads and bridges and the collapse of buildings,” Takaichi said.

“I ask everyone to take action to protect themselves, including evacuating to a safe location.”

Around 300,000 people were instructed to go to evacuation centres, while aftershocks continued to rumble in the area on Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu.

One side of the mall, which houses around 200 stores, was torn away in the blast, exposing steel beams and strewing debris across a parking lot, footage showed.

A spokesperson for mall operator Aeon said customers and employees were evacuated right after the initial quake and that the exact cause of the ensuing explosion was unclear. Authorities are investigating a possible gas explosion, broadcaster NTV reported.

Kazuya Tsurunaga told TBS he was stunned by the blast while cleaning up dishes broken by the earthquake inside a pub about 300m from the Aeon mall.

“It was a huge impact,” he said. “A large cloud of smoke billowed up, and because the wind happened to be blowing and the wind direction was towards ⁠the shop, the area around us was in a state like volcanic ash was falling.”

Several passengers aboard high-speed trains at the time of the quake were also injured, operators said.

Some roads were also badly damaged, with large cracks splintering major highways, snarling traffic. Rail services were suspended and flights grounded.

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Sony and Fujifilm evacuated workers from their plants following the quake.

The quake’s epicentre was about 20km south of Kumamoto City, central Kyushu’s largest city with a population of around 700,000.

Residents in the areas that felt the biggest tremors must be on alert for further strong quakes for about a week, as well as for the risk of landslides, an official for the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Authorities warned residents about the risk of heat stroke as temperatures were set to hit ⁠34 degrees on Wednesday.