An earthquake measuring 5.4 shook the prefecture of Chiba (eastern Japan), as well as Tokyo, causing delays to several transportation lines and some injuries. The earthquake occurred at 4:16 in the Japanese morning with its epicenter in the city of Kisarazu, south of Chiba, and at a depth of 40 kilometers, the Japan Meteorological Agency (Jma) reported today, which did not activate the tsunami warning . The earthquake reached level 5 on the Japanese 7-level scale, focused on measuring ground tremors and damage, in the prefectures closest to the epicenter. Two women sustained minor injuries in Chiba, firefighters said, while a third person fell at her home in Yokohama, neighboring Kanagawa prefecture, also suffering minor injuries.
Several subway lines, such as the Asakusa line, or the JR East train (from Chiba), have suffered delays in areas where the tremor was strongest to verify safety on the tracks. “The hardest-hit areas could experience another earthquakes of magnitude 5 or higher on a Japanese scale this week. Especially in the next 2-3 days,” JMA spokeswoman Noriko Kayama told state-run NHK chain.
Japan is located on the so-called Ring of Fire, one of the most active earthquake zones in the world, and experiences earthquakes with relative frequency, so its infrastructure is specially designed to withstand the tremors. The same goes for the islands of Tonga affected by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake that shook the Pacific island nation earlier in the day. However, no damage or injuries were reported.
The quake struck about 100 kilometers off Tonga’s remote volcanic island of Niuatoputapu, at a depth of 210 kilometers, the US Geological Survey said. There was no tsunami risk. “We received early morning calls from people who heard it, but there were no reports of damage,” said Gary Vite, chief meteorologist with Tonga Meteorological Services near the capital Nukùalofa. The quake was also felt about 360 kilometers from the epicenter in the Samoan capital Apia. Tonga and Samoa are also located on the Pacific “ring of fire”, where tectonic plates often shift, frequently experiencing seismic activity.