MILLIONS OF TOKYO COMMUTERS STRANDED AFTER EARTHQUAKE

From Yong Soo Heong
TOKYO, March 12 (Bernama) -- Millions of commuters in Tokyo were stranded Friday afternoon when underground train services were temporarily stopped for six hours after an 8.9 Richter scale earthquake hit the country.
The earthquake was said to be the biggest to have hit Japan in 100 years.
An estimated six million people use the underground trains on the Tokyo Metro each day.
Train services stopped around 3pm and this triggered extremely long queues at bus stations and taxi stands.
Many offices in central Tokyo let off their workers early after the quake, resulting in many having to trudge home in the cold.
Some took shelter in shopping complexes, hoping that train services would resume.
Train services resumed about 9pm and provided much relief to the stranded commuters.
Most hotels were fully booked when many decided to spend the night in town as some train lines were yet to be restored.
Japanese police Friday night announced that more than 60 people were
reported to have been killed in the aftermath of the earthquake.