Sunday, September 30, 2007

Moderate quake jolts Tokyo region, injures two

TOKYO-A moderate earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale jolted the Tokyo region early Monday, injuring two people, officials said. It struck on the start of the day Japan, which experiences about 20 percent of the world's major quakes, was introducing a world-first early warning system for earthquakes.The quake occurred at 2:21 am (1721 GMT), just hours before the system swung into operation.It was centred in Kanagawa prefecture just south of the Japanese capital and 14 kilometres (8.7 miles) underground, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.Two people were injured in the quake but neither was in a serious condition, according to a crisis management official at the Kanagawa prefectural government."A 60-year-old woman had her left shoulder dislocated as she fell in a hallway of her house," municipal official Ryoichi Hoshi said.A 60-year-old man was also sent to hospital after he felt sick from the shock of the tremor, Hoshi said."There have been no major aftershocks from the first quake but we are still on alert," he said.Some train services were temporarily disrupted but they have returned normal. Television footage showed a bridge shaking from the quake, which could also be felt in the heart of Tokyo.

As in the days of Noah....

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