International
oi-Madhuri Adnal
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook eastern Japan, including Tokyo, early Sunday, leaving at least 37 people injured. Most of the injuries were minor, officials said. There was no tsunami warning following the quake.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the earthquake struck southern Ibaraki prefecture at a depth of about 70 kilometres (42 miles). The area is no stranger to earthquakes. The US Geological Survey put the initial magnitude at 5.8.
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck eastern Japan early Sunday, centered in Ibaraki prefecture and felt strongly in Tokyo, causing at least 37 primarily minor injuries across five prefectures with no resulting tsunami warning.
The 37 injuries were reported across five prefectures. Tokyo recorded the highest number with 15, followed by nine in Saitama, eight in Kanagawa, four in Chiba and one in Ibaraki, according to local officials and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
Several people were injured after being startled awake by the shaking. Some fell out of bed, while others bumped into furniture or doors as they tried to move around in panic.
Among those injured was a woman in her 80s in Yokohama, Kanagawa. She fell from her bed and suffered a serious hip injury, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
A 23-year-old man told the Asahi newspaper that he was shopping in Tokyo’s Taito district when his phone issued an earthquake alert. Seconds later, he felt a strong vertical jolt. As the building shook, he said he was worried about items falling from the shelves.
The earthquake also affected train services in and around Tokyo. Some express trains to Tokyo and Narita Airport were delayed, as were local services in northeastern parts of the region. Shinkansen bullet trains continued to run normally, East Japan Railway Co. said.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government had set up a task force to check for damage and assess the situation. The Japan Meteorological Agency advised people in the affected areas to stay alert for another moderate earthquake over the next week.
The shaking was strong enough to trigger emergency earthquake alerts on mobile phones and was widely felt across Tokyo. NHK footage showed traffic continuing as usual in nearby cities, including Mito and Saitama.
The quake did cause some local damage. An underground water pipe burst in Tokyo’s Koto ward, sending water onto the road, NHK reported. About 460 homes in Tokyo also lost power temporarily, but TEPCO Power Grid said electricity had been restored by Sunday morning.
There were no reports of problems at around a dozen nuclear power plants or other facilities handling nuclear materials, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said.
The latest earthquake comes just weeks after a magnitude 7.1 quake hit the Kumamoto area on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island. That earthquake killed 38 people and left 364 injured.
