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Japan's Meteorological Agency mistakenly issued a warning for a magnitude 9.9 earthquake in the Kuril Islands on Friday, before withdrawing the alert eight minutes later after determining that it had overestimated a magnitude 6.9 quake.
The warning went out at 12:40 p.m. local time (3:40 a.m. GMT) and was canceled shortly afterward, according to Fuji News Network.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which monitors earthquakes worldwide, recorded the actual earthquake at magnitude 6.9 in the Kuril Islands.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) confirmed that the warning had resulted from an overestimation of the earthquake's magnitude, according to Livedoor News.
During an afternoon news conference, the agency apologized for issuing the inaccurate alert and said an investigation was underway to determine what had caused the error.
Officials also ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack, although the precise reason behind the incorrect magnitude estimate remains under investigation.
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