Japan Earthquake Brings Country To A Standstill, Cripples Rail System

For all it’s super-modern architecture and technology even Japan couldn’t help but come to a standstill on Friday after the country was hit by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake that later led to a Tsunami.

The country has been experiencing mobile phone and power outages, while millions of commuters have become stranded as roadways, airlines and other means of transportation have been temporarily shutdown for safety and repair reasons.

With Tokyo’s train system at a halt, nearly 10 million daily travelers were left with no means of transportation. The city relies heavily upon their state of the art subway lines that criss-cross all over the city, all of which had to be manually checked for damage before they could be put back online, leaving most train routes completely closed for the entire day.

With railway closures thousands of people could be spotted sitting at various train stations, walking the streets of Japan and checking emails at 24-hour cafes. Government buildings were also opened up to provide emergency accommodations to stranded passengers.

Not only are travelers stranded, the earthquake managed to shift the earth’s axis by 10 inches, while permanently moving the coast of Japan by 2.4 meters.