Agency Apologizes For Issuing False Quake Alert
Japan's Meteorological Agency has apologized for a false earthquake alert issued for a wide area of eastern Japan on Thursday, blaming it on a technical glitch.
At around 9:38 a.m., the agency issued the alert for a strong earthquake that would hit Tokyo and its surrounding regions of Kanto, Koshin-etsu and Tokai, as well as Fukushima Prefecture, with an expected intensity of 4 to 5-plus on a scale of 0 to 7. It was said to be centered in the Pacific Ocean, south of the Boso Peninsula, near Tokyo.
The warning was sent out on mobile phones in those regions. However, no jolts strong enough to be felt by humans were recorded.
The agency explained that an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8 occurred two minutes before the warning was issued and it was centered near Torishima Island in the Pacific.
The agency said its early warning system mistakenly placed the focus of this earthquake at a location south of the Boso Peninsula, about 450 kilometers north of the area where the tremor actually occurred. The system also overestimated its magnitude.
The agency apologized for the false alert, saying it had caused enormous inconvenience for many people.
In 2018, the agency also issued a false alert for a major earthquake after two tremors occurred almost simultaneously.
