THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
October 8, 2021 at 17:10 JST
Forty-three people were injured in the nighttime earthquake that jolted the Tokyo metropolitan area and caused disruptions in transportation services that continued on Oct. 8.
Seismologists warned that aftershocks of upper 5 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 could occur over about a week.
Fourteen of the injured were reported in Chiba Prefecture, 12 in Tokyo, 11 in Saitama Prefecture and six in Kanagawa Prefecture, according to local governments.
The 10:41 p.m. earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 and an epicenter in a northwestern area of Chiba Prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Intensities of upper 5 were recorded in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward and Kawaguchi city and Miyashiro town in Saitama Prefecture.
It was the first time in Tokyo’s 23 wards for a quake to register upper 5 since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.
Some train services were suspended after the jolt, stranding lines of commuters at main terminals. Delays and suspended services continued on the morning of Oct. 8 in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Two aftershocks of at least 1 on the seismic scale were reported by 8 a.m.
Operations were relatively smooth at Tokyo Station on Oct. 8, but one announcement said, “(Some trains) are severely delayed, and you might reach your destination late.”
A 49-year-old man at the station who planned to go to Chiba Prefecture on a business trip said, “I might not be able to use trains, so I am trying to figure out if I can get there by bus.”
A 50-year-old man who arrived at Tokyo Station on the Yamanote Line from Nippori Station said the train was packed.
“It was extremely crowded, and I have never experienced such a crowd in the last few years,” he said.
A warning alert for the Oct. 7 quake prompted the Nippori-Toneri Liner to make an emergency stop between Toneri-Koen and Toneri stations in Adachi Ward, according to the transport ministry.
The front three train cars derailed, and three of the 30 or so passengers were injured.
There are no prospects that service of the train will be recovered soon.
According to East Japan Railway Co., services were suspended on the Tokaido and Musashino lines in some sections, but those lines had fully resumed by 8 a.m.
In Soka, Saitama Prefecture, the quake caused a fire in a building, and one person was taken to a hospital.
In Chiba Prefecture, a fire broke out at Fuji Oil Sodegawa Refinery early on Oct. 8. No injuries were reported.
Also in Chiba Prefecture, a pipe of an aqueduct over the Yorogawa river in Ichihara was damaged and spouting water just after the quake.
The pipe connects a water treatment plant and a water supply plant, so there were no water outages.
The prefecture halted the flow of water to the pipe around 4 a.m. on Oct. 8.
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The derailed Nippori-Toneri Liner in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward on Oct. 8 (Kazuyoshi Sako)
