Japan points warning for ‘strongest earthquake in historical past’ earlier than apology
The Japan Meteorological Agency triggered mass panic when it issued an urgent alert for a massive 9.9 magnitude earthquake, but soon revoked its warning after a huge blunder
The false alarm caused widespread panic
A false alarm warning of the most powerful earthquake in history caused widespread panic across Japan earlier today. Shortly after midday, 4am UK time, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) triggered an urgent alert for a massive 9.9 magnitude earthquake.
Residents were informed that an unprecedented super earthquake had hit the Kuril Islands at 12:36pm local time, with severe tremors expected to affect Hokkaido, Tohoku, and the Kanto region.
The government quickly retracted the alert roughly eight minutes after it went out, officially cancelling it at 12:48pm. The JMA explained that its automated system had miscalculated the magnitude when the warning was dispatched at 12:40pm.
The government quickly retracted the alert roughly eight minutes after it went out(Image: Shutterstock / Ned Snowman)
Actual seismic records indicate that while a magnitude 6.9 quake struck near the Kamchatka Peninsula around 12:39pm and a minor magnitude 1 tremor was recorded in Hakodate, Hokkaido, no significant shaking or tsunami threats occurred.
To address the situation and calm public alarm, the agency held a press conference at 2:00pm (6:00am UK time).
Officials noted that while the precise root cause remains under investigation, initial findings point to a system error in interpreting the seismic data.
During the broadcast, Ayaki Kaito, head of the Earthquake Monitoring Division of the Japan Meteorological Agency said: “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to the public.”
Japan’s early warning infrastructure continuously monitors seismic activity and is programmed to alert the public whenever an earthquake of magnitude 5 or greater is anticipated.
Officially the most powerful earthquake in history was a 9.5 magnitude quake in Valdivia in Chile on May 22, 1960. The horror event killed at least 1,655 people, injured 3,000 and displaced two million.
It caused $550million damage in Chile, while the tsunami that it spawned caused deaths and damage as far away as Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.
The ‘rupture zone’ of the quake was more than 1,000km long. Two days after the initial quake, the nearby volcano Puyehue erupted, sending ash and steam up to 6km into the atmosphere over a period of several weeks.
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