Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward Issues wrong terror alert

April 22, 2018

Tokyo- Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward mistakenly warned its residents Saturday of the possibility of a massive terror attack.

The wrong alert was issued through the ward's disaster prevention and administrative radio system at around 9:45 a.m. (12:45 a.m. GMT).

It was corrected one hour later via email and other means to some 10,000 residents registered as recipients of disaster-related information. The ward broadcast the correction past noon.

According to the ward, a newly hired part-time employee touched the warning send button on the system by mistake during on-the-job training.

Although there were some 20 inquiries about the warning, no major confusion occurred, the ward said.

An official at the disaster response and risk management section explained that the ward failed to correct the terror attack message promptly due to the absence of officials in managerial positions at the time. Jiji Press