Meteorological agency issues false alarm about imminent quake in Tokyo

Tuesday 25th August, 08:08 AM JST

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Hurtado at 02:07 PM JST - 25th August

The alert caused Tokyo Metro to suspend services on eight of its subway lines for two to nine minutes, including halting trains, but the timetables were restored by 8 a.m.

This is when you know the country actually does work compared to the rest of the west. Major earthquake alert puts the trains late for no more than 10mins. Frost gets on the tracks over here and the trains are canceled or people lose their jobs.
chuckers at 02:16 PM JST - 25th August

Frost gets on the tracks over here and the trains are canceled or people lose their jobs.

Whereas an inch of snow in Tokyo will paralyze the city. Doesn't seem to affect people up North for some reason.

Moderator: Back on topic please.
smithinjapan at 03:47 PM JST - 25th August

I was going to come on here and talk about how the government screwed up AGAIN with it's false alarms, but after reading the article I realized that of course there is no actual practical means for predicting earthquakes, so at least this is a start. It'll take a lot of fine tuning, and will hopefully become useful.
Farmboy at 04:25 PM JST - 25th August

It'll take a lot of fine tuning, and will hopefully become useful.

I agree, but maybe they should wait until it's useful before they issue warnings. Sounds like a bit more testing is in order.
bdaniel08 at 04:58 PM JST - 25th August

For me too it's the first time that I got one of these 'Early Alert' quake mails on my mobile...it was in fact a pretty scary warning bell !

But i stll think its better to get a warning for nothing than no warning at all for...the big one !
Disillusioned at 05:50 PM JST - 25th August

Yeah, classic. I walked into Maccas at 6:30 this morning and just sat down for a bit of chew and spew when my phone went ballistic! Now, everyone will ignore these warnings. Yet another complete SNAFU. Well done!
Apsara at 06:10 PM JST - 25th August

One false alarm and you think everyone will ignore the warnings? Okay... I don't know about you but I certainly won't be ignoring any warnings that an earthquake is imminent, that would be stupid.
hedgehog88 at 06:17 PM JST - 25th August

I was going to come on here and talk about how the government screwed up AGAIN with it's false alarms, but after reading the article I realized that of course there is no actual practical means for predicting earthquakes, so at least this is a start.

Yes, it is just a start. I think people still believe this controversial earthquake alert if it would alert successfully once per 3-4 times. I don't believe if it missed more than 10 times though.
Mark_McCracken at 06:31 PM JST - 25th August

Disullusioned, bdaniel08 and/or doedel - How exactly did you receive the email warnings? Did you have to sign up for them, or were they automatic from your phone carrier, and if so, which company? Thanks in advance.
bdaniel08 at 06:59 PM JST - 25th August

No Mark, nothing was signed for myself...probably from my keitai carrier (AU).
bdaniel08 at 07:04 PM JST - 25th August

Last week my daughter got that alarm (for a real earthquake !) from Docomo and she said that warming came just before (30 seconds...) the actual earthquake...
Mark_McCracken at 07:37 PM JST - 25th August

As much as I'd like to join in and criticize the false warning, I think the idea behind the system is actually quite good.

Earthquakes travel, and it can take several seconds for a quake that starts in one location to move to another. One fault slipping can lead to another. If technology can alert people and give them even a 5 second warning, Shinkansens will slow, housewives will turn off the stove, kids will scramble under kitchen table and lives will be saved. An occasional false alarm is a small price to pay for what could eventually be remarkably helpful.

My understanding is that earthquakes travel about 8 kilometers per second. This simulation seems to show how it would take over a minute for a 7.8m quake to reach Los Angeles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikZDBhP_inI
viking68 at 07:40 PM JST - 25th August

My apartment is equiped with an earthquake alarm. The large one a couple of weeks ago counted down from 10, in Japanese. And like clockwork, the building started to shake.

This morning, the alarm was saying something about hiding in a safe place. Hard to do on the 30th floor. I stayed in bed and waited for something to happen.

I am happy to have it. My wife takes a bit more complacent, if practical, point of view. She's afraid it will wake our 3 year old since the last few earthquakes have been occuring early in the morning.
Cicada at 09:09 PM JST - 25th August

This system is very old (decades). The only thing new is that ordinary people can receive the warning because of convenient technology of cell phones and so on. It used to be that only railways received the signals and automatically stopped or slowed trains. In 2004 Niigata quake a train de-railed anyway because it was too close to the epicenter for the warning signal to help. It only works if you are far enough away so that the initial signal gets to you about 30 seconds before the big jolt. Any farther away than that and you are outside the range of the quake so you would not need a warning.
XXXXX at 04:35 AM JST - 26th August

it might have been good for a big drill.