Japan retracts mistaken magnitude 9.9 quake alert
The alert set off loud emergency alerts on millions of mobile phones in Japan. Japan's weather agency clarified later that a 6.9-magnitude quake occurred near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula at a depth of 160 kilometres (100 miles).
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) withdrew an erroneous alert for a magnitude 9.9 earthquake minutes after issuing it on October 17. The initial warning claimed the quake occurred near the Kuril Islands, which triggered loud emergency alerts on millions of mobile phones and caused brief disruptions to public transport. JMA official Shinya Tsukada apologized to the public for the inconvenience and concern caused by the error.
According to the Malay Mail, the error resulted from an anomaly in calculating the earthquake's epicentre, as the magnitude was based on an incorrect assumption that the epicentre was roughly 680 kilometres farther from Japan than it was. The JMA later clarified that a 6.9-magnitude earthquake had actually occurred near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula at a depth of 160 kilometres. Both Channel News Asia and the Malay Mail report the earthquake occurred near the Kamchatka Peninsula at a depth of 160 kilometres.
Brief written by urgent.news from Channel News Asia, Malay Mail — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- Japan retracts mistaken magnitude 9.9 quake alert freemalaysiatoday.com
- Japan apologises after erroneous 9.9-magnitude earthquake alert disrupts transport malaymail.com
