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False alarm: Institute apologizes for initially issuing 7.7-magnitude earthquake alert in Sichuan for much smaller jolt_我的网站

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Picture of an earthquake alert. Photo: VCG
After the Institute of Care-life, a Chengdu-based disaster reduction laboratory, mistakenly issued a 7.7-magnitude alert for a 4.7-magnitude earthquake, the Sichuan earthquake agency on Monday accused the institute of using the name of the official earthquake early warning network without authorization, saying its authorization to use the network had already been terminated last month.
A 4.7-magnitude earthquake struck Yibin at 8:26 am on Monday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. However, the Institute of Care-life issued a 7.7-magnitude earthquake alert just five seconds after the quake struck, causing panic among many users.
The institute used the name of the "China Earthquake Early Warning Network" (an early warning system under the China Earthquake Administration) without authorization to issue a 7.7-magnitude earthquake alert to the public through Honor and Vivo smartphones, as well as Xiaotiancai smartwatches, drawing widespread public attention, said the Sichuan earthquake agency in a statement.
The agency said it had terminated the institute's third-party authorization to access emergency earthquake information services from the China Earthquake Early Warning Network on July 22, 2026.
In response to the false alarm, the Institute of Care-life said that its earthquake early-warning network initially estimated the quake at magnitude 7.7 five seconds after it occurred, before revising the estimate to 6.4 at the sixth second, 3.7 at the seventh second, 4.1 at the eighth second and 3.9 at the 16th second. The estimated magnitude automatically converged to 3.9 by the 17th second after the earthquake, the institute said.
Addressing the significant discrepancy, the Institute of Care-life said that deviations in estimates of an earthquake's magnitude and epicenter are inevitable to some extent, as early-warning information is generated automatically shortly after a quake begins, before the seismic event has ended.
The Institute of Care-life apologized for the inaccurate alert and said it would investigate the cause as soon as possible while improving its technology and services.
Global Times
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