{
  "id": 15115491,
  "title": "Japan retracts mistaken magnitude 9.9 quake alert",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/17/japan-retracts-mistaken-magnitude-9-9-quake-alert",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-17T03:23:36.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2026/10/17/japan-retracts-mistaken-magnitude-9-9-quake-alert"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Japan's weather agency, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), retracted an erroneous alert for a magnitude 9.9 earthquake shortly after issuing it on Friday. The agency apologized for the warning that caused disruption to public transport and briefly inconvenienced the public. The JMA had initially warned of a magnitude 9.9 earthquake near the Kuril Islands, also known as the Chishima Islands in Japan. However, it later clarified that a 6.9-magnitude quake had occurred near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula at a depth of 160km. The JMA official, Shinya Tsukada, expressed deep regret for the significant inconvenience and concern caused to the public. The error stemmed from an anomaly in calculating the earthquake's epicenter, as the estimated magnitude was based on an incorrect assumption about the epicenter's distance from Japan. This led the agency to issue a warning that would have released about 22 times more energy than the 2011 quake, which had a 9.0 magnitude and caused widespread devastation and loss of life.",
  "summary": "Japan's weather agency corrected its initial warning after an epicentre calculation anomaly led to an incorrect earthquake reading.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "Japan retracts mistaken magnitude 9.9 quake alert",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/17/japan-retracts-mistaken-magnitude-9-9-quake-alert-15117363",
        "published": "2026-10-17T03:23:36.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Malay Mail",
        "title": "Japan apologises after erroneous 9.9-magnitude earthquake alert disrupts transport",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/17/japan-apologises-after-erroneous-9-9-magnitude-earthquake-alert",
        "published": "2026-10-17T04:15:59.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}