(Update2) Strong Earthquake Hits Japan’s Chiba

Jiji Press

7:58 JST, May 11, 2023 (updated at 13:11 JST)

Tokyo, May 11 (Jiji Press)—A strong earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.2 hit Chiba and neighboring prefectures in eastern Japan early Thursday morning.

Four people were slightly injured in the quake that struck around 4:16 a.m. local time and measured up to upper 5, the fourth-highest level on the country’s seismic intensity scale.

They included a woman in her 70s who fell in her bedroom in the Chiba city of Kimitsu, where the quake measured lower 5.

The quake occurred in the southern part of Chiba at a depth of 40 kilometers, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It did not trigger tsunami.

Speaking at a press conference, Noriko Kamaya, director of the agency’s Earthquake and Tsunami Observation Division, urged people to remain on guard against possible quakes measuring up to upper 5 for the next week or so.

Hideo Shoji, an 86-year-old resident of Kisarazu, where the quake measured upper 5, said, “It was like the ground was being thrust up from below, followed by swaying from side to side for about 40 seconds.”

East Japan Railway Co. suspended operations on some sections of train lines in Chiba.

The Japanese government set up a liaison office at the crisis management center under the prime minister’s office.