A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck Tokyo and the broader Kanto region on Sunday, injuring at least 37 people and disrupting JR East train services as officials checked for damage across the area.
The quake was centered in southern Ibaraki Prefecture and struck at a depth of 68 kilometers. In Tokyo's Adachi Ward, shaking reached lower 5 on Japan's seven-point shindo scale, while parts of Ibaraki, Saitama and Chiba also recorded lower 5. Other areas of Tokyo, along with Tochigi, Gunma and Kanagawa, felt Level 4 shaking. In some places, the shaking lasted up to a minute.
The scale of the damage was enough to trigger an immediate response. Earthquake early warning alarms sounded on mobile phones shortly before the shaking was felt around 2 a.m., and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 22 people were lightly hurt in Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Ibaraki, while 15 were injured in Tokyo. One person in Kanagawa was seriously injured. JR East reported delays on the Joban Line, Keihin Tohoku Line, Shonan Shinjuku Line, Musashino Line and Chuo-Sobu Line, underscoring how quickly a night-time quake can spread into the morning commute.
Even so, there was no tsunami alert. That did not make the event any smaller for people on the ground. NHK reported a partial collapse of the ceiling at Ushiku City Hall in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, and there were reports of people trapped in elevators in Tokyo. Lower 5 shaking on the shindo scale can send objects falling from shelves and force people to grab onto something to steady themselves, while Level 2 long-period ground motion in Tokyo's 23 wards and in Saitama and Chiba can make taller buildings sway for longer periods.
Within an hour of the quake, Sanae Takaichi said efforts to confirm the extent of the damage were ongoing and that a liaison office had been established at the Prime Minister's Office Crisis Management Center. She also said officials had been instructed to provide timely and accurate information and warned people in areas where the shaking was strong to remain vigilant for another earthquake of similar magnitude over the next week. For now, the main question is not whether the tremor was felt widely. It is how much more damage the inspections will turn up before the week is out.
