TOKYO, Oct 16 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Japan's weather agency canceled a mistakenly issued warning of strong seismic shaking from an earthquake off northern Japan on Friday after overestimating the temblor's magnitude as a catastrophic 9.9, causing temporary train service disruptions in parts of the country, Kyodo News reported.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said it is investigating the cause of the erroneous projection. It issued the warning for a wide area extending from northern to central Japan at around 12.40 pm (local time), saying that the earthquake had occurred in the Chishima Islands, also known as the Kuril Islands, off Hokkaido.
It later confirmed that a M6.9 quake occurred near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula at a depth of 160 kilometres at around 12.38 pm (local time).
The early warning was for a seismic shock with a maximum intensity of 7 on the Japanese intensity scale, but the strongest shaking recorded was an intensity of just 1 in Hakodate, the agency said.
Due to the warning, bullet train services on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line were temporarily suspended between Shin-Yokohama and Toyohashi stations. Services have already resumed, JR Central said.
Hokkaido, the country's northernmost main island, and surrounding areas are among the regions where the agency has urged the public to prepare for a potential megaquake along the Japan Trench and Chishima Trench off northern Japan.
-- BERNAMA-KYODO