Japan mistakenly issues 9.9 quake warning — SkimNews
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- Japan mistakenly issued a warning for a magnitude 9.9 earthquake that was withdrawn minutes later, rattling nerves nationwide
- A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, according to the EMSC
- Hawaii was not placed under a tsunami threat after the large quake
Why it matters: An erroneous magnitude 9.9 alert — the highest conceivable — triggered brief panic in Japan before being retracted within minutes, exposing a gap in the automated early-warning chain triggered by a real magnitude 7 event off Kamchatka. False alarms at this magnitude risk eroding public trust in the very system residents rely on in one of the world's most seismically active countries.
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