Commuting Students, Workers Thrown into Confusion by Osaka Quake

June 18, 2018

Osaka- A large number of commuting workers and students were thrown into confusion by a major earthquake that jolted Osaka and other parts of western Japan during the morning rush hour on Monday.

The quake, with an estimated magnitude of 6.1, occurred around 7:58 a.m. (10:58 p.m. Sunday GMT) at a depth of about 13 kilometers in the northern part of Osaka Prefecture.

In the city of Toyonaka in the prefecture, close to the quake's focus, some elementary school students on their way to school crouched down on the ground in terror with tears in their eyes.

At an elementary school in the city, children gathered in the playground for their safety and some of them ran to their parents who came to pick them up with a tense look on their faces.

After a strong vertical shake, horizontal shakes continued for tens of seconds. The quake measured up to lower 6, the third highest level on Japan's seismic intensity scale of 7.

"A roof tile dropped right next to my friend," said Kenya Ikeda, a fourth grader. The nine-year-old boy said with tears, "A power pole rocked from side to side and I was really scared."

"The ground started shaking when I came close to the school," said Yuka Kobayashi, 11, a six grader. "Iron pipes of a house under construction made huge noise."

She said she and other children drew close to each other as they held their school bags over their heads to protect themselves.

The quake forced many commuter trains in western Japan to stop operations and the passengers were thrown into confusion.

In a packed subway train operated by Osaka Metro Co., passengers exchanged glances with each other when an earthquake alert started beeping. They learned through train announcements that the services were halted for safety checks and many used their smartphones to collect information and get in contact with their acquaintances.

At Osaka Metro's Tenmabashi Station, where train services remained suspended, many people stood stuck in front of ticket gates and others sat on the floor, trying to figure out how they should respond to the emergency situation.

A junior high school student said to her friend at the station, "How should we go to school?"

In front of another subway station of Osaka Metro, a company employee said, "We were guided to the ground level and told to evacuate to Osaka Castle." He said, "I can't go to work because train services have been suspended." Jiji Press