Quake Rattles Tokyo Area

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake centered north of Tokyo rattled the Japanese capital early Wednesday, jarring buildings, injuring 22 people, and temporarily disrupting train service. There was no threat of tsunami.

The 4:46 a.m. (1946 GMT Tuesday) quake was centered in southern Ibaraki prefecture, just north of the capital, the Meteorological Agency said. The epicenter was 28 miles below the surface.

There was no danger of a tsunami, or potentially dangerous waves triggered by seismic activity, the agency said.

At least 22 people suffered injuries in Ibaraki and surrounding prefectures, including a 65-year-old man who was injured when he fell down a flight of stairs, public broadcaster NHK reported.

A magnitude-5 earthquake can cause damage to homes if it occurs in a residential area.

But there was little damage because the quake's epicenter was far enough underground that much of the shock was absorbed, and because buildings in Japan are designed to withstand the shaking.

NHK showed monitoring cameras around central Tokyo shaking, and the rumbling was felt in surrounding areas such as Yokohama. Goods were jolted off convenience store shelves near the epicenter.

The tremors also led to a temporary suspension of local train services in Ibaraki, and prompted transport authorities to shut down an expressway to motorists for about 1 1/2 hour as a precaution, media reports said.

Japan, which rests atop several tectonic plates, is among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

On Oct. 23, a magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck Niigata, about 160 miles (257 kilometers) northwest of Tokyo, killing 40 people and damaging more than 6,000 homes. The jolt was the deadliest to hit Japan since 1995, when a magnitude-7.3 quake killed 6,433 people in the western city of Kobe.