Japan: Several injured as 5.2 earthquake rocks Tokyo Bay area

TOKYO: Several people were left injured after an earthquake of magnitude 5.2 on the Richter Scale hit areas surrounding Tokyo Bay early on Thursday, reported Kyodo News.

According to the Japanese weather agency and local authorities, the earthquake was also witnessed in areas including Chiba Prefecture and downtown Tokyo.

The agency also stated that the first earthquake at 4:16 am registered an upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Kisarazu and a lower 5 in Kimitsu, both in Chiba Prefecture and a 4 in areas including Tokyo's Chiyoda and Chiyodawards, however, no warning for a tsunami was issued.

The Japanese weather agency defined the upper 5 as a situation where it becomes difficult for many people to walk. Since March 2012, it was the first time that Chiba Prefecture was shaken by an upper 5 earthquake, according to Kyodo News.

Roof tiles of three homes got dislocated and fell on the ground, while the building windows had developed cracked from the shaking in Kisarazu.

Five elderly people sustained minor injuries in Chiba Prefecture. Another two more people were injured in adjacent Kanagawa Prefecture, where a woman fell at home and a man suffered a head injury after a light fell from a shelf while he was asleep.

However, no immediate reports of casualties came to the fore from Tokyo. Nearly 3,000 elevators in Tokyo and in the neighbouring areas including Chiba Prefecture, stopped working.

Still, no one got trapped, said Hitachi Building Systems Co., a major building facilities management company, as per Kyodo News. Several elevators also stopped working after an earthquake was detected.

According to Tokyo-based Elevator Systems Co., elevators in high-rise condominium buildings were mostly affected. Morning commuters had no major disruption, as most train lines operated normally from their first services.

The JMA warned that earthquakes with an intensity of up to 5 can take place for up to a week. The earthquake originated in Sothern Chiba Prefecture at a depth of around 40 kilometres. The agency earlier reported a magnitude of 5.4 but later changed it to 5.2, Kyodo News reported.