New quake southwest of Tokyo shakes confidence

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http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110315/japan-shizuoka-earthquake-110315/

New quake southwest of Tokyo shakes confidence

CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Tue. Mar. 15 2011 11:27 AM ET

Tokyo was rocked by a massive tremor on Tuesday, compounding the fears of

residents already gripped by concerns that nuclear radiation from a damaged

power plant could reach the city.

According to the Japan Meteorological Society, the quake struck the Shizuoka-ken

Tobu region southwest of Tokyo at approximately 10:30 p.m. local time. It

rumbled from a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres, with a magnitude of

6.0.

Freelance journalist had been in Tokyo, but headed for the

Shizuoka region on Tuesday amidst fears radiation from a damaged nuclear plant

in the country's northeast was headed for the capital.

" People have been fleeing to this area thinking that they would get away from

that active fault line, get away from the earthquakes and get away from the

radiation possibilities, " told CTV in a telephone interview from his

hotel room in Shizuoka prefecture, less than 100 kilometres southwest of Tokyo.

" So right now we're thinking: 'Where can we go in Japan?', " he added, describing

the doubts among those who joined the exodus from Tokyo earlier in the day.

" A lot of people left the city, including myself, " said, explaining that

many assumed the area around Japan's iconic Mount Fuji was safe.

" It's in a totally different part of the country than the other ones have been, "

he said.

Tokyo residents had been told Tuesday that the danger posed by radiation leaking

from the Dai-ichi nuclear plant in the Fukushima prefecture some 240 kilometres

northeast of the city was minimal.

But that didn't stop many from fleeing the densely populated metropolis, and did

little to calm the panic among those who chose to stay.

Many stores have run out of radios, flashlights, candles, fuel cans, sleeping

bags and other survival gear. Shops have also been cleared staple foods.

" People are getting angry when they go to stores now and can't see very basic

things like bread or rice and that's in Tokyo, " said, describing the

panic buying he witnessed amongst people rushing to stock up on basic

necessities.

Flights Diverted

Although the damage from the quake and tsunami that struck on March 11 was

centred on four prefectures in the country's northeast, the repercussions

continue to be felt around the country.

In addition to rolling power blackouts, train service has been disrupted and

there are long lines of travellers at the country's international airports.

Responding to the huge delays at Narita International Airport, which is located

about 65 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, Germany's Lufthansa airline announced on

Tuesday that it will now divert its daily flights to the Japanese capital.

The German carrier's daily flight from furt to Tokyo will instead land at

Nagoya, while flights from Munich will be rerouted to Osaka.

Lufthansa spokesperson Jachnow said the changes will remain in effect

until Sunday, at least.

" From the other cities we'll be able to offer a more stable flight schedule,

which is also a preventive measure, " Jachnow said.

With files from The Associated Press