Japan’s much vaunted J-Alert warning system running up against its limitations
In addition to technical difficulties that can result in false alarms, many feel the warnings do not come soon enough
On January 5, as Tokyo’s commuters were struggling back to work after their long New Year break, blaring sirens from every phone pierced the sleepy atmosphere: “strong” earthquake coming.
The message delivered via the country’s alert system, part of its much-hyped J-Alert mechanism, warned of a big one directly hitting the Japanese capital – potentially on the scale of the devastating 2011 earthquake that wrought massive destruction. Millions braced for impact … but it never came.
It turned out that the system, which aims to give a precious few seconds to find shelter before a major earthquake strikes, had been tricked by an unusual seismological coincidence.
Two minor tremors struck at almost exactly the same time in separate locations, making the alert system mistakenly believe a massive jolt was on its way, the meteorological agency admitted.
Even Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was caught off guard – with TV footage showing him checking his phone as alarms echoed in his office ahead of a cabinet meeting.
It was not the first false alarm for the system, a major component of Japan’s J-Alert launched with great fanfare in 2007 as a way to save lives in a country constantly under threat of earthquakes and – more recently – North Korean missiles.