日本气象厅误发9.9级地震紧急预警 八分钟后撤回并致歉
日本气象厅10月16日中午误发地震紧急预警，把俄罗斯堪察加半岛附近发生的6.9级地震错报为9.9级，预警范围从北海道延伸至中部地区，约八分钟后撤回。气象厅已就此致歉，并着手调查出错原因。
据气象厅说明，地震于当地时间12时38分发生在堪察加半岛附近，震源深度约160公里。预警系统在处理过程中误判震中位置，将其定位在千岛群岛，并把震级计算为9.9。12时40分发出的预警预测最大震度为7，但日本国内实际观测到的最大震度仅为函馆的1，日本近海亦无海啸风险。
受预警影响，东海道新干线新横滨至丰桥区间一度停运，列车随后恢复运行。气象厅公布的处理记录显示，系统在测得地震波后先把震级推算为7.3，随后升至9.9，预警系统随即按最高等级发布了紧急预警。北海道外海的日本海沟与千岛海沟一带被视为可能发生巨型地震的区域，气象厅长期呼吁当地居民做好防灾准备。据日本媒体报道，这是气象厅首次撤回已发出的地震紧急预警。
Japan's Weather Agency Apologises After Mistakenly Issuing a Magnitude 9.9 Quake Warning
Japan's Meteorological Agency issued an erroneous emergency earthquake warning on October 16 after its system miscalculated a magnitude 6.9 earthquake near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula as a magnitude 9.9 event. The agency withdrew the warning about eight minutes later, apologised, and began investigating the error.
The actual quake struck at 12:38 p.m. local time at a depth of around 160 kilometres. During processing, the early warning system misplaced the epicentre in the Kuril Islands and inflated the magnitude. The warning, issued at 12:40 p.m. for a wide area from Hokkaido to the Chubu region including Tokyo, forecast shaking of up to 7 on Japan's seismic intensity scale; the strongest shaking actually observed was an intensity of 1 in Hakodate, and there was no tsunami risk.
Tokaido Shinkansen bullet trains were temporarily suspended between Shin-Yokohama and Toyohashi before services resumed. Processing records published by the agency showed the system's magnitude estimate climbed from 7.3 to 9.9 before the alert was issued. The waters off northern Japan, along the Japan Trench and Chishima Trench, are an area where the agency has long urged residents to prepare for a possible megaquake. Japanese media reported it was the first time an emergency earthquake warning had ever been withdrawn.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：停靠在京都站的东海道新干线列车。图片来源：Ravi Dwivedi，CC BY-SA 4.0。Photo: A Tokaido Shinkansen train at Kyoto Station. Image: Ravi Dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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