Shropshire teacher tells of Japanese earthquake

A Shropshire man caught up in Japan's worst earthquake today said he ran for his life as the city came crashing down like a scene from "War of the Worlds".

Jide Obadina, originally from Bridgnorth, has been living in Tokyo for the past six years and said he was at his gym in Shinjuku, the skyscraper district, when the tremors started.

The 29-year-old teacher said: "I was sitting under a weights machine when I started feeling tremors. I looked around and was deliberating whether to start walking out when it kicked up a gear.

"I was out the door at the head of the pack and briskly walking down the corridor. About halfway down this long corridor the whole building began to roar like a jet engine.

"At that point I broke into a sprint. At this point all I was thinking was, this is it, time to survive."

Mr Obadina, who used to go to Oldbury Wells School, added: "You could hear the buildings creak and groan. I've been in earthquakes before but this was absolutely crazy. It was terrifying. The strangest thing was how quiet everything was. All you could hear were sirens and smatterings of nervous chatter.

"Walking through the city felt like a Hollywood disaster movie, War of the Worlds or something. The news footage of the tsunami was being played out on these huge Times Square style TV screens and there were thousands and thousands of people standing around staring up at them in silence."

Telford man Stefan Guest, from Shawbirch, was caught up in the quake at Tokyo airport on Friday and took refuge beneath a table as glass and furniture was thrown about.

Former Blessed Robert Johnson Catholic College pupil Mr Guest, who now lives in the USA, was supposed to be in Japan for two hours to change flights en route from Vietnam to the Portland.

He said he narrowly escaped being trapped in Tokyo and made it out just before the terminal was evacuated.