False alarm about a magnitude 9.9 earthquake causes concern in Japan, agency explains the error

Millions of mobile phones in Japan received emergency alerts after the country’s Meteorological Agency mistakenly announced that a magnitude 9.9 earthquake had been recorded.

The warning was canceled a few minutes later. Authorities publicly apologized for the concern and disruption caused by the alert.

The incident occurred yesterday. In its initial alert, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the powerful tremor had been recorded near the Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the Chishima Islands.

The agency later corrected the information: the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.9 and was recorded shortly after noon near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, at a focal depth of around 160 kilometers.

The JMA said the inaccuracy occurred while calculating the location of the epicenter. The system placed it around 680 kilometers farther from Japan than it actually was, and this error also affected the magnitude estimate, generating the alert for a magnitude 9.9 earthquake.

Although the warning was corrected within a few minutes and there was no widespread panic, the activation of the emergency system caused temporary disruptions to public transportation.

Following the incident, the JMA publicly apologized for the disruption caused. “We sincerely apologize for the considerable concern caused to the public,” agency official Shinya Tsukada told reporters.

The case highlighted the importance of the accuracy of automated earthquake warning systems, which play a crucial role in protecting Japan’s population during powerful tremors.