08/08/2013(WED) 16:56 Nara, Japan M7.8 (False Alarm) NHK-BS1 Japan's Early Earthquake Warning Triggered in Error Japan's earthquake early warning system was triggered in error today, causing some bullet trains to stop and jamming mobile-phone lines. A magnitude-2.3 earthquake struck Wakayama prefecture in western Japan at 4:56 p.m. local time, after the country's warning system predicted a magnitude-7.8 quake, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The mistake was "probably the biggest" misreading since the system started in October 2007, Toshio Kusano, a spokesman for the Office of Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Prevention at the agency, said over the telephone today. There have been 31 errors out of 135 early warnings issued, Kusano said. Today's glitch was caused by electrical noise on the ocean floor, he said. The magnitude-9 quake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan and triggered a nuclear meltdown in Fukushima more than two years ago was about 5 million times bigger than today's tremor, according to calculations on the U.S. Geological Survey's website. Posted to YouTube by user shibuya tokyo
08/08/2013(WED) 16:56 Nara, Japan M7.8 (False Alarm) NHK-BS1 Japan's Early Earthquake Warning Triggered in Error Japan's earthquake early warning system was triggered in error today, causing some bullet trains to stop and jamming mobile-phone lines. A magnitude-2.3 earthquake struck Wakayama prefecture in western Japan at 4:56 p.m. local time, after the country's warning system predicted a magnitude-7.8 quake, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The mistake was "probably the biggest" misreading since the system started in October 2007, Toshio Kusano, a spokesman for the Office of Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Prevention at the agency, said over the telephone today. There have been 31 errors out of 135 early warnings issued, Kusano said. Today's glitch was caused by electrical noise on the ocean floor, he said. The magnitude-9 quake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan and triggered a nuclear meltdown in Fukushima more than two years ago was about 5 million times bigger than today's tremor, according to calculations on the U.S. Geological Survey's website. Posted to YouTube by user shibuya tokyo