JMA false alarm

[thomas]

Did anyone else fall victim to yesterday's false earthquake alarm? I was at work and it was certainly alarming!

Haven't received any alerts since the spring of 2011. I wonder if they can be disabled on the iPhone.


Agency alert for big Kansai quake was false alarm

The Meteorological Agency issued a false alarm shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday, warning that a strong earthquake was about to hit Nara and Osaka prefectures. It turned out to be a mild tremor.

The agency said the false alarm was triggered by some noise trouble that occurred in an underwater earthquake scale off Mie Prefecture.

"We apologize for causing problems to so many people," said Toshihiko Hashida of the agency during a press conference.

=> Agency alert for big Kansai quake was false alarm | The Japan Times

 

[undrentide]

I was also at work, and all of a sudden, there came "BLEEP! BLEEP!" noise everywhere - as most of us put our mobile phones on our desk or in the drawer of our desk. Everyone was startled, I checked Twitter (I'm following earthquake alart on it) but found nothing. It stopped many train services etc. but at the same time I cannot help wondering which is better, having a false alarm and no big earthquake, or having a precise alarm which is followed by a real big one... I know these are two different matters but just my random thoughts.