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A worker cleans up a floor scattered with CDs and
videos at a rental video shop in Tsukuba, north of Tokyo
Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
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An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter
scale shook the Tokyo area before dawn, jolting many
residents out of bed and causing minor injuries to at least 19 people.
The quake registered at 4:46 am with the epicenter in Ibaraki prefecture
about 130 kilometers northeast of Tokyo with a focus 40 kilometers
underground, the meteorological agency said.
Part of the Japan Railways Joban line to the northeast of Tokyo and a
section of a highway in the Joban region were shut down as precautions
as inspectors looked to see if they sustained damage.
At least 19 people were lightly injured when they fell out of bed or
were hit by falling objects such as a television and a stereo speaker,
according to a roundup of local authorities by public broadcaster NHK.
Police said they had not heard of any life-threatening injuries.
The impact was powerful enough to shake buildings in central Tokyo,
waking up many residents, in a reminder of how prone the Japanese
capital is to earthquakes.
A government study published in December found it likely that the
city of 12.5 million would be hit by a major earthquake within the next
30 years that would leave up to 13,000 dead and disrupt the lives of
millions.
Japan, which lies at the crossing of four tectonic plates, endures
about 20 percent of the world's powerful earthquakes, frequently jolting
Tokyo and other major cities where buildings are made to be tremor
resistant.
On October 23, an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale and
striking only 13 kilometers underground rocked the central Niigata
region, killing 40 people.
It was the deadliest quake in Japan since January 17, 1995, when
6,433 people died after a pre-dawn tremor in the western city of Kobe.
The Kobe quake was the most devastating in modern times to hit a city
in the developed world. The 10th anniversary last month was marked in
the rebuilt city by a UN conference on how to reduce the risks of
disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis of the type that battered the
Indian Ocean in December.
In autumn, nearly one million Japanese took part in earthquake
preparation drills to mark
another anniversary -- that of the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake which
devastated the Tokyo region leaving 142,807 people dead or unaccounted
for.
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一场里氏5.4级的地震在拂晓之前震动了东京地区，剧烈的晃动把许多居民从床上摔了下来，造成至少19人受轻伤。
日本气象厅表示，地震发生在（2月16日）清晨4时46分。震中位于东京东北方向约130公里处的茨城县，震源位于地下40公里处。
通往东京东北部的部分常磐铁路干线和常磐地区的一段高速公路被预先关闭了，因为道路巡视员担心它们无法承受此次破坏。
据当地权威的日本广播协会新闻简报称，至少有19人受了轻伤，他们或是从床上跌落时摔伤，或是被掉下的电视机、音箱等物体砸伤。
警方表示他们还没有听说危及生命的伤亡事故。
此次地震的威力足以让东京市中心的建筑物有震感，惊醒了许多居民，它提醒人们日本的首都是多么容易发生地震。
去年12月公布的一份政府研究报告发现，东京这个拥有1250万人口的城市将在今后30年里遭遇一次大的地震袭击，将造成超过1万3千人死亡，使数百万人的生活陷入混乱。
日本位于地壳四大板块的交会点上，受世界上20%的强烈地震的影响。地震频繁侵扰东京和其他几个主要城市，那里的建筑物都被设计为抗震型的。
去年10月23日，一场发生在地面以下仅13公里处的里氏6.8级地震袭击了日本新滹市中心，造成40人丧生。
那是自1995年1月17日以来日本发生的最致命的地震。在95年的大地震中，西部城市神户有6433人在黎明前的震动中丧生。
在当代发达国家城市遭受的侵袭中，神户地震的破坏性最大。上个月，联合国在这座重建于废墟之上的城市举行了神户大地震十周年纪念会议，会议的主题是如何减少灾难发生的风险，例如地震和类似12月袭击印度洋海域的海啸等。
去年秋季，近100万日本人参与了地震防备演习，来纪念另一次灾难——1923年的银座大地震几乎摧毁了整个东京地区，造成142807人死亡或失踪。
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