At two minutes before noon on Saturday, 1 September 1923, Tokyo began to shake again. The earth had shifted beneath Sagami Bay,
miles away, and the initial shock lasted for about five minutes. It was
followed by two more. Huge chasms opened in the streets, swallowing
people and even trams. Electric cables snapped like string then flailed about, electrocuting anyone unfortunate enough to be within reach.
One lethal flick killed a whole tramload of passengers, leaving them
frozen as they were at the moment of death. ‘‘One woman’s hand held
out a coin as though she had been on the point of paying her fare,’’
said an eyewitness. Roderick Matherson, the Chicago Tribune’s Tokyo correspondent, reported: ‘‘the ground swayed and swung, making a
foothold almost impossible… The groaning of the swaying buildings
rose to a roar, and then a deafening sound as the pitching structures
began to crumble and fall.’’ Desperate people ran out, ‘’pallid with
fright,’’ banging into each other and falling over. Some fainted while others laughed hysterically

Find a word in above that suggests a light quick touch.