TOKYO, May 20 (Reuters) - A Japanese agency apologised on Wednesday
for issuing an erroneous alert for a magnitude 7.6 earthquake,
saying the alert for southern Japan had been issued as part of a
drill.
"We are looking into what happened," Yoshiro Ota, an official at
the Japan Meteorological Agency, told Reuters.
"Usually, when it is a drill, it is flagged as a drill in the
alert," he said.
Residents in southern Japan were calling the agency to find out why
the alert had been issued. Witnesses in southern Japan contacted by
Reuters said they had felt no shaking.
Japanese media did not report on the alert on the website because
they had been warned in advance that the agency would conduct a
drill, Ota said.
Kyodo news agency reported that the agency had posted an earthquake
alert on its website in error.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most
seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent
of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the
Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring
more than 3,000. (Reporting by Chisa Fujioka)