earthquake in tokyo a few hours ago, I almost fell on the ground
 

I was at Tokyo Disney land with some friends when the earthquake struck.

it was definitly the biggest earthquake I've ever witnessed. They stopped all the rides, all the trains around tokyo stopped. It took 2 hours in a cab to drive the 14km (9 miles) back home, and it cost $100 USD

by the time I got my camera out and started filming, the ground had stopped shaking :(

good times!

found this news story:

TOKYO (Reuters) - A moderate earthquake struck near Tokyo on Saturday, shaking buildings and injuring five people in a shopping centre, the weather office and a Japanese news agency said.

The epicentre of the 5.7 magnitude quake, which occured at 4:35 p.m. (0735 GMT), was 90 km (56 miles) deep in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo, Japan's Meteorological Agency said, adding there was no risk of a tsunami.

Kyodo news agency said five people were injured at a shopping centre in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo.

The earthquake caused a steel tower to collapse in Tokyo, and damaged the roof of a nearby building, it said.

The quake led to the stoppage of many train services, public broadcaster NHK said.

Tokyo's Narita airport was shut down after the earthquake, but later re-opened after an inspection of the runways showed no damage, Kyodo said.

The earthquake shook buildings in Tokyo, disrupted some mobile phone traffic, and threw a scare into many local residents.

A witness said he saw a car park swaying in eastern Tokyo and that elevators had stopped at an apartment complex.

The quake triggered panic in an indoor ice rink in Kanagawa, south of Tokyo.

"The whole building was shaking...About 70 people were on the rink and people were screaming and scrambling to get off the ice," a Reuters witness said.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region, killing about 40 people and injuring more than 3,000.

That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995 that killed more than 6,400 people.

earthquakes feel funny.

definitely makes you aware of your surroundings.

we get them here frequently.

that's scary!

When you said it was " the biggest earthquake I've ever witnessed" you should have told us you had never really felt an earthquake before.

5.7 almost made you fall? Were you on stilts or something?

doesnt sound like a good time to me.

LOL!

Hey Jay, glad you're ok :P

Thats cuz you went to Tokyo w/o me. Again!

Japan is one of the most active places for earthquakes. http://www.crystalinks.com/rof.html

Depends on how hot the ground is where he was located. The depth of the fault matters as well. In Japan, I believe a lot of faults slip in shallow areas.

Intensity varies greatly.

Just my opinion.

Moderate to major damage.Chimneys and walls collapse. Richter Magnitude 6

The epicentre of the 5.7 magnitude quake, which occured at 4:35 p.m. (0735 GMT), was 90 km (56 miles) deep . . . The earthquake caused a steel tower to collapse in Tokyo, and damaged the roof of a nearby building

ive felt an earthquake once, nothing major, just shook some things on my dresser in my bedroom. but its scary to think that the GROUND isnt stable lol weird.

Glad we don't get quakes here... :upsidedow

Ive been in quite a big one in taiwan.........

Its a real spooky feeling when the ground moves.

:1orglaugh

yeah it was the first eathquake I've felt - the only other one I can remember, I was in an elevator going to my office in victoria, and it lasted only a few seconds.

I swear to you I almost fell, and my friend was crouching at the time and ended up on his ass.

might not be anything to you, but for us it was the first time and it seemed kinda big :)

the locals didn't seemed moved at all - I guess it was nothing to them.

good times!!!

Whoa!
thats crazy, i'm glad you're ok dude :)

hehe 5.7 is a piece of cake as you can read in this thread - of course I'm ok!

:)

It's been awhile since we have had a "big one" in the Bay Area.

<knocks on wood>

Always a bizarre sensation, especially in the milliseconds that it takes you to figure out what is going on.

I've been in all kinds of earthquakes (rollers, violent jarring ones, etc), in Seattle, in Japan, and of course here in the Bay Area. You never really get used to them. It can be quite unnerving, since you are nature's mercy.

Looking forward to your pix from Japan, Jay.

ADG Webmaster

they're coming soon! but now it's 7am, i'm drunk and just came back from karaoke! I'll post some tomorrow :)