The powerful quake also caused extensive damage, including injuries, collapsed buildings, fires and damaged roads

The Prime Minister said the government is rapidly assessing the extent of the damage while coordinating emergency response efforts across ministries and agencies

The Prime Minister urged rescuers and residents to remain cautious of the intense heat, warning of the risk of heatstroke during ongoing rescue and recovery efforts

Emergency relief supplies, including food, drinking water, cardboard beds, toilet paper, air conditioners and power generators, are also being dispatched to evacuation centres

Takaichi announced that the government would convene the Second Extraordinary Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting later in the day to assess the latest situation and accelerate relief and recovery operations

Earlier, before the official death toll was updated, two women were confirmed dead, while another woman was found unconscious following an explosion at Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima town, hours after the earthquake struck Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu

According to government sources cited by Kyodo News, investigators suspect a gas leak triggered the explosion. The prefectural government had initially reported that 10 people were unaccounted for at the site