9.9 Magnitude Earthquake Warning Causes Panic in Japan

Japan's Meteorological Agency retracted a warning of a 9.9 magnitude earthquake minutes after issuing it, offering an apology for the false alarm that caused concern among residents and temporary disruptions to public transportation.

The agency had issued a warning about a 9.9 magnitude earthquake near the Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the Chishima Islands, triggering emergency alerts on millions of mobile phones. However, the agency later clarified that a 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula at a depth of 160 kilometers, noting that the erroneous warning resulted from a failure in determining the earthquake's epicenter.

In a formal apology, agency official Shinya Tsukada told reporters: "We deeply apologize for the significant inconvenience and anxiety we caused the public."

Although the alert did not cause widespread panic, it led to temporary disruptions in public transport services.

This incident occurs in a country still burdened by the memory of the violent earthquake that struck Japan in 2011, which reached a magnitude of 9.0 and was followed by devastating tsunami waves that killed or left missing approximately 18,500 people, in addition to causing the Fukushima nuclear disaster.