Arab News Japan

TOKYO: A powerful magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook the Tokyo area on Thursday night, injuring more than 30 people, damaging underground water pipes and halting trains and subways.

Although some train lines and metro companies said they had resumed operations following the earthquake, hundreds of people were seen waiting for taxis after midnight at main train stations in the three prefectures due to the earthquake’s impact.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose government immediately set up a task force to respond to the quake, told reporters at 11:20 pm that he had ordered officials to help quake victims and prevent further damage. “There are people who have difficulty returning home due to the earthquake, and we are requesting the business operators to cooperate as much as possible,” Kishida said.

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department reported that the leading car of Nippori-Toneri train came to an emergency halt and derailed in Adachi-Ku, Tokyo, due to the quake, leaving three passengers injured.

Unstable walls fell in some houses, and windows collapsed. Water pipe ruptures occurred in various places, including a large pipe leak over the Yoro River in Otsubo, Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture.

The quake caused no tsunami, the Japan Meteorological Agency said noting that it measured upper 5, the fourth-highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of zero to 7, in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward, and Kawaguchi and the town of Miyashiro, both Saitama Prefecture, north of the Japanese capital, according to the agency. Tokyo central district, Minato-ku, where most embassies and foreign community are located, was also shaken by this earthquake. Since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, it was the first time that an upper five was registered in central Tokyo’s densely populated 23 wards.

The agency said that the earthquake occurred around 10:41 pm (1:41 pm GMT) at a depth of 75 kilometers in a northwestern part of Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

Seismology Professor Koshun Yamaoka of the Nagoya Great Earthquake and Volcano Research Center advised people to be cautious of possible aftershocks for a week or so. He told Asahi Shimbun that “this earthquake is located near the boundary of the Pacific plate that sinks under the Japanese archipelago. The ground hardness and nature make a difference in the magnitude of the tremor even in the same city,” he said

At a news conference in the small hours of Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the government reported that one person was injured seriously due to the quake. Sixteen others were also injured, but the extent of their injuries is not immediately known, he said.
According to the fire department of Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, a 69-year-old man had bleeding from the head after being hit by a falling bookshelf at his home. In Yokohama, a woman in her 70s suffered slight injuries after being trapped under a closet.

On the Metropolitan Expressway, the Inner Circular Route and the Central Circular Route were closed off leaving long lines of cars’ traffic jams.

Japan Atomic Power Co. said there is no abnormality at its Tokai No. 2 nuclear plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan.

Motohiro Ono, governor of Saitama, said in a message that many personnel gathered at the disaster prevention center of the prefectural government to collect information in close cooperation with the Cabinet Disaster Prevention Office, the Self-Defense Forces, and infrastructure operators. At this point, he said, no evacuation centers opened in the prefecture, and only a few minor casualties were reported, but no information on any death.
Governor Ono added that in some areas where infrastructure damage occurred, prefectural police helicopters flew over hit areas to collect information.

Some elevators stopped at hospitals, but according to the latest information, they have been restored immediately.

At a press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said no abnormalities were reported at nuclear facilities. Narita airport in Chiba, east of Tokyo, and Haneda airport near Tokyo resumed operations after checks.

*With Jiji Press/AP