Tokyo rocked by earthquake

2005-04-11 08:45

Tokyo - A major earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale rattled Tokyo early Monday as commuters headed to work, reviving fears of the dreaded "Big One" predicted to hit Japan in the future.

The quake was the biggest since a tremor of equal magnitude that hit the Kanto region centring on Tokyo in June 2000, but there were no reports of major damage or casualties.

The quake took place at 7.22am (22:22 GMT on Sunday), with the focus 52km underground in the northeastern part of Chiba prefecture, some 100km east of Tokyo.

There was no danger of a tsunami waves, the meteorological agency said.

The quake occurred in a geological hotbed of quakes, where powerful earthquakes registering 6.0 on the Richter scale or greater have taken place repeatedly, said Masahiro Yamamoto, monitoring chief of earthquakes and tsunamis at the agency.

But he said a major aftershock was unlikely.

"Quakes may be felt from now on, but we believe the possibility of a tremor that could cause major damage would be very small," Yamamoto said.

Delayed trains

The quake delayed some high-speed bullet trains.

Several local train services came to a complete halt as a safety precaution in response to the quake, with stranded passengers seen getting off trains in the middle of rice paddies.

"Local police stations are checking the impact of the quake ... but we have not received reports of injuries or damage at the moment," a Chiba police official said.

Operations at Narita airport, the main international airport for Tokyo which is located in Chiba, were briefly suspended as a precaution.

Police in neighbouring Ibaraki prefecture said they lowered the speed limit on expressways, but had no reports of accidents or damage.

A nuclear power plant in Ibaraki was operating normally, a police official said.

Japan, which lies at the crossing of four tectonic plates, endures about 20 percent of the world's powerful earthquakes, frequently jolting Tokyo and other major cities where buildings are made to be tremor resistant.

The most worried region is central Japan's Tokai facing the Pacific, where a quake as intense as 8.0 on the Richter scale is feared.

A government panel said in February that if a quake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale were to hit the Tokyo region in the evening rush hour, it would kill 13 000 people and inflict 1.1 trillion dollars in damage.

It would also displace 4,6 million people, the panel said.

On January 17, 1995, the western city of Kobe experienced a pre-dawn tremor, registering 7.3 on the Richter scale, that killed 6 433 people.

The Kobe quake was the most devastating in modern times to hit a city in the developed world.

- AFP