TOKYO: A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 rattled eastern Japan, including the Tokyo area, early Sunday, injuring at least five people, officials said. There was no danger of a tsunami.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the quake occurred in the southern Ibaraki prefecture, at a depth of 70 kilometers (42 miles), an area of Japan prone to frequent quakes. The United States Geological Survey recorded a preliminary magnitude of 5.8.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said at least five people were injured in Ibaraki, Chiba and Saitama prefectures northeast of Tokyo. The agency said more people were injured and details are being investigated, the FDMA said.
The quake caused delays to express trains serving Tokyo and Narita Airport and other local trains serving northeastern regions, but Shinkansen bullet trains were running normally, their operator East Japan Raiway Co. said.
The government set up a task force to assess the extent of possible damage, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on X.
The temblor set off emergency quake alerts on mobile phones and also significantly shook Tokyo. NHK public television showed traffic on roads in nearby cities, including Mito and Saitama, seemingly normal.
An underground water pipe ruptured in Tokyo’s eastern ward of Koto, with water pouring out onto the road, NHK footage showed. The earthquake caused blackouts to about 460 homes in Tokyo but power was restored by later Sunday morning, according to TEPCO Power Grid.
There were no reports of anomalies from about a dozen nuclear power plants and other facilities that handle nuclear materials, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said.
Last month, a magnitude 7.1 quake struck the Kumamoto area on Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu, killing 38 people and injuring 364. It also destroyed more than 1,500 buildings and damaged nearly 20,000 others.