As per Japan's PM, around 450 evacuation centres remain open, with some 7,700 people still in use of those centres.

The governmenrt are making a special effort to ensure those evacuation centres have food, water, air-conditioning and power generators, as Japan sweats through a warmer-than-average summer.

A total of 4,600 personnel have also been deployed to assist in rescue efforts, with around 2,000 of them from the police force, and roughly 1,000 are from the fire service.

Here is a bullet-point summary of what happened overnight as rescue efforts continue in the wake of a 7.1 richter scale earthquake rocked Japan on Tuesday.

• Casualties and death toll: Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed the earthquake's death toll has risen to 13. Dozens are injured, with two local hospitals receiving over 50 patients each for burns, fractures, and earthquake-related trauma.

• Understanding 'Cardiac Arrest' reports: In Japanese official reporting, "cardiac arrest" (or cardiopulmonary arrest) is routinely used to indicate that a person shows no signs of life, though their death has not yet been formally pronounced by a doctor.

• Aeon mall explosion: A severe explosion severely damaged the Aeon Mall Kumamoto. Eight people were pulled from the rubble (two confirmed dead, one in cardiac arrest, and five injured). Operations were continuing for up to 30 people initially reported missing near the site.

• Massive rescue effort underway: Over 4,600 personnel have been deployed for rescue efforts. This includes around 2,000 police officers, 1,000 firefighters, and Self-Defence Forces working alongside specialist units like the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Rescue Team and Aviation Unit.

• Evacuations and resource relief: Around 450 to 500 evacuation centre are currently open, with roughly 7,700 to 9,100 people having evacuated. Prime Minister Takaichi confirmed measures are underway to supply evacuation centres with food, water, portable air conditioners, and power generators.

• Utility outages and damage: Approximately 36,700 residences are without power, and local hospitals report water leaks and electrical failures.

• Damage to ancient landmarks: Exterior walls of the iconic 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle collapsed during the quake. An hour's drive away, in the town of Hikawa, at least 18 homes collapsed in the one village.

• Eyewitness accounts: Residents described violent shaking that felt like the "building beneath you turns into liquid," followed by continuous aftershocks and heavy smoke billowing from explosion sites.

Incredible dashcam footage has surfaced online, showing the exact moment the side of the Aeon Mall Kumamoto exploded outward.

Emergency fire rescue teams, police, and army personnel were focusing on areas of the building where they could still hear calls for help. The full extent of the Aeon building collapse remains unclear.

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

Takaichi has confirmed that three are dead in the building collapse at Aeon Mall Kumamoto. The death roll remains at 13, she added.

Rescue efforts continue at both the collapsed Aeon shopping centre and the Nippon paper plant in Yatsushiro.

The Japanese PM added: "Although more than 20 hours have passed since the earthquake, there are those still in need of help. This is truly a race against time."

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is currently holding a press conference about the earthquake. She is likely to give provide updates on casualties and rescue efforts in the wake of the massive quake.

We'll summarise what she says shortly.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi(Image: AP)

National broadcaster NHK has reported that two more people have been found in a state of "cardiac arrest" In Japan, this term doesn't neccesarrily mean the medical emergency in which the heart suddenly stops beating, blood stops flowing to the brain and body, and the person becomes unconscious without a normal pulse.

The term, in Japan, usually indicates there are no signs of life in the person but their death has yet to be confirmed.

The two people in a state of arest were found after at least 18 houses collapsed in the town of Hikawa, in Kyushu. As per NHK, authorities as saying there are residents still trapped in two of these houses.

A slew of photographs have documented the scale of damage at an Aeon Mall in the wake of an explosion, thought to have been triggered by gas, after the earthquake on Tuesday.

Damage is seen to part of the Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima(Image: Yuichi YAMAZAKI)

A damaged truck is seen near the Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima town(Image: Yuichi YAMAZAKI)

Emergency workers gather outside the Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, on July 29,(Image: Yuichi)

Emergency vehicles are seen outside the Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima(Image: Yuichi YAMAZAKI )

Specialist teams from around Japan are now heading to Kumamoto to join in on rescue operations.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department took to X to confirm its Disaster Preparedness Division's Special Rescue Team and Aviation Unit travelled to the prefecture today "to support rescue operations".

"The team members will do their upmost," the team said on X, formerly Twitter.

The Japanese government has confirmed that more than 9,000 people were reported as staying at evacuation centres.

"As of 7am today, 9,186 people have sought refuge in 506 evacuation centres across five prefectures, including Kumamoto and Fukuoka," government spokesman Minoru Kihara said.

Kumamoto Castle, a top tourist site in the prefecture, was among one of many locations to suffer damage during yesterday's earthquake.

Parts of the 400-year-old castle's exterior walls collapsed, with the aftermath caught on camera by local eyewitness Ryu.

Kumamoto Castle https://www.instagram.com/p/DbVbxCpTYEG/?hl=en(Image: Ryu)

The iconic Kumamoto castle that we see today was completed in 1607 by Kato Kiyomasa, the first daimyo - or feudal lord - of the castle. It is now without parts of its exterior wall following Tuesday's quake.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has issued her condolences to those who had died and has praised emergency services for their continued efforts to rescue those trapped.

She says there are still many people waiting to be rescued, adding that it is a "race against time".

A third person is now dead, as per an official from Kumamoto Prefecture's Disaster Management Division.

The person died after going into cardiac arrest.

One person described feeling like the "building beneath you turns into liquid", while another told the BBC: "My TV fell on me."

Others have reported "constant aftershocks" in the hours since the quake.

Eight people have been pulled from the rubble of Kumamoto's Aeon Mall, Kumamato Prefecture Public Relations official Akino Sonoda has said.

Of those eight, two women in their 20s were confirmed dead and another was in cardio arrest, local officials have reported. The remaining five extricated from the collapsed building were injured, but their conditions were deemed not to be life-threatening.Japan's public broadcaster NHK said that two hospitals have taken in at least 50 injured patients each, with one hospital staffer quoted as saying: "People are coming in with burns and fractures from being trapped under objects due to the earthquake, and ambulances are constantly bringing in injured people. Inside the hospital, there are water leaks and electrical system failures."

Rescue operations have continued through the night, with Japan's fire, police, and Self Defence Force all working to help people from the rubble of razed buildings.

Two women have been confirmed dead in the the Aeon Mall collapse, local officials have told Japan's public broadcaster NHK.

As per reports, three others were in a state of cardio arrest, NHK said, including two at a factory in Yatsushiro where a smokestack had collapsed.

A gas explosion reportedly caused the devastation at Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima Town, Kumamoto Prefecture where up to 30 people are missing, tearing away one side of the mall.

A spokesperson for mall operator Aeon 8267.T said the exact cause of the ensuing blast was unclear, however local news repots do indicate the explosion is being treated as gas-related, as per broadcaster NTV has reported.

Kazuya Tsurunaga told news channel TBS he had been cleaning up dishes broken by the earthquake in a nearby pub, located about 300 metres from the mall.

"It was a huge impact," he said, revealing he had been left stunned by the follow-up blast. "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."

The latest earthquake is among more than 200 “significant” quakes in Japan since 2000 and it is one of the more powerful.

Japan has so many because it lies on the Ring of Fire, an area of intense seismic and volcanic activity on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

“Japan sits on the boundaries of four tectonic plates, which makes it one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world,” Shoichi Yoshioka, a professor at Japan’s Kobe University, previously told CNN.

“About 10% of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or higher occur in or around Japan, so the risk is much higher than in places like Europe or the eastern United States, where earthquakes are rare."

The worst was the 9.1 magnitude Tohoku earthquake in 2011 that led to a tsunami with around 20,000 people killed.

Footage from Kumamoto shows the destruction with a road destroyed by the earthquake and buildings damaged.

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook Japan ’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday, leaving dozens of people injured or missing after part of a shopping centre and a huge chimney at a paper factory collapsed, officials said.

A person wrote on X along with the clip: "The Kumamoto earthquake is hitting hard right now. Got a video from a friend - people in Kyushu, especially Kumamoto, stay safe."

Officials in Kumamoto Prefecture said that two workers were in a state of cardiac arrest at a factory in Yatsushiro City and that nine others are missing.

The earthquake caused a smokestack to collapse and other damage at Nippon Paper Industries.

The local government stated that 11 people were trapped at the plant, two of the rescued individuals had already suffered cardiac arrest, while the whereabouts of the remaining nine are still unknown.

More than 175 schools and centres have been closed following the earthquake in the city of Kumamoto.

Some locations have been set up as evacuation points with 178 sites with closed facilities also including sports centres and public parks

Many events have also been cancelled over the coming days with the fear also of follow-up tremors.

A hospital in Kumamoto is “at full capacity” with dozens of people injured in the earthquake.

Saiseikai Kumamoto Hospital, with 400 beds, said it has had to suspend “pre-scheduled hospitalizations”, NHK reported.

“People injured by furniture that fell during the earthquake, such as those with fractures, are being brought in one after another. We have 400 beds, but we are already at full capacity,” said a statement from the hospital.

People can be seen running for cover following an explosion at the Aeon Mall Kumamoto shopping centre in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture.

Unconfirmed reports say that the second floor of the building collapsed following a gas explosion during the earthquake.

People can be seen running for cover following an explosion at the Aeon Mall Kumamoto shopping centre in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture.

Unconfirmed reports say that the second floor of the building collapsed following a gas explosion during the earthquake.

An explosion caused the collapse of the Aeon Mall Kumamoto shopping centre in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, with 10 people still missing.

The second floor of the building is understood to have given way with four people now rescued but 10 remain missing.

A senior government official told reporters: "We don't know if it was the cause of the explosion, but there have been reports that gas was leaking.

"The main gas valve has been shut off, and the police, fire department, and Self-Defense Forces are conducting rescue operations."

An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.1 struck the Kumamoto area causing significant damage to buildings and roads.

Footage shows the Kyushu Expressway which was partly ripped up due to the impact of the tremor.

"The situation near the Yatsushiro Interchange on the Kyushu Expressway in Kumamoto," wrote an X user along with the clip.

Shinkansen bullet trains and local trains in Kyushu have been suspended for safety checks, and the runway at Aso Kumamoto Airport was closed, with “no prospect of resuming operations,” according to a notice on the airport’s website.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said it dispatched aircraft to the area to assess the situation.

A train derailed and fell on its side at Yatsushiro station, and stone walls were damaged at Kumamoto castle, Kyodo said.

“The shaking reminded me of the Kumamoto quake (10 years ago) and I was frightened,” said Hiroki Shimoda, an official at Mifune town hall, who saw roof tiles of nearby homes crash to the ground. Kumamoto was hit with a deadly quake in 2016 that left more than 50 people dead.