A 7.1-magnitude earthquake killed at least 13 people near the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto, and rescuers are frantically searching for survivors trapped beneath the rubble, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Wednesday."Even now, there are people waiting to be rescued, and this is a race against time Some major companies with plants in the area, including Tokyo Electron, a semiconductor equipment maker, and Honda, said they would suspend operations at their plants through Wednesday.TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, evacuated workers from its local plant as a precaution after the quake but said it had begun resuming operations late on Tuesday.Some roads were also badly damaged, with large cracks splintering major highways and snarling traffic on Tuesday evening.Located on the "Ring of Fire" of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20per cent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or higher.A massive earthquake in Kumamoto 10 years ago killed 275 people and injured a further 2,739, according to an official count, and damaged thousands of buildings, including the walls of the city's castle, a top tourist site.For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.