Dazed and bewildered, thousands roam streets

TENS of thousands of stranded people roamed the streets of Tokyo or holed up in offices and train stations as the capital’s usual bustling traffic came to a standstill yesterday after the biggest earthquake in modern Japanese history struck.

The magnitude-8.9 temblor off Japan’s northeastern coast shook buildings in the capital, left millions of homes across Japan without electricity, shut down the mobile phone network and severely disrupted landline telephone services. It brought the train system to a halt, paralysing the daily commuter flow of more than 10 million people.

Akira Tanaka, 54, a restaurant worker, was among those who just gave up and decided to walk home — to suburban Saitama, 12 miles north of Tokyo, an endeavour he has never tackled before.