Strong earthquake jolts Tokyo
( 2003-10-15 16:03) (Agencies)
A moderately strong earthquake measuring 5.0 on the open-ended Richter scale
jolted Tokyo and surrounding areas on Wednesday, but there were no immediate
reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami warning was issued.
Flights at Narita airport outside of Tokyo were not affected, but Haneda
Airport, which handles mostly domestic flights, closed its three runways for
checks.
As buildings in the capital swayed, service on one local train line was
halted and others reduced speed as a precaution.
The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 4.30 p.m (3:30 a.m. EDT), was 50
miles beneath the earth's surface east of Tokyo.
A powerful earthquake registering 8.0 on the Richter scale rocked Japan's
northern island of Hokkaido late last month, injuring nearly 600 people and
causing a fire to break out at an oil storage tank.
Japanese still have vivid memories of an earthquake in the western city of
Kobe that killed more than 6,400 people eight years ago. That quake measured 7.2
on the Richter scale.
The Great Kanto earthquake of September 1, 1923, measured 7.9 on the Richter
scale and killed more than 140,00 people in Tokyo and the neighboring port city
of Yokohama.
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