The Japan Meteorological Agency apologized Oct. 16 after issuing an emergency warning for an earthquake that was erroneously estimated as the most powerful in recorded history.
“We issued an emergency earthquake warning with excessively large estimated values,” a JMA official said at a news conference that started at 2 p.m. “We deeply apologize for the inconvenience. We are truly sorry.”
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula at 12:38 p.m. on Oct. 16.
However, the JMA wrongly estimated the earthquake’s magnitude at 9.9, and its epicenter was also incorrectly identified as near the Chishima islands off Hokkaido.
The JMA issues emergency alerts for areas expected to experience shaking of an intensity of 4 or greater on the Japanese seismic scale of 7.
Although a 9.9 magnitude earthquake off Hokkaido could have devastating consequences for a large part of Japan, the real earthquake only led to an intensity of 1 in Hakodate, Hokkaido, according to the agency.
The emergency quake alert was sounded in Hokkaido, the Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku, Koshin and Tokai regions, as well as the Izu Islands.
The agency said the cause of the error was still under investigation, but it denied the incident was caused by a cyberattack.
AloJapan.com