Japan alarm after errors in earthquake alert system

Quake warning mechanism criticized over technical glitches

TOKYO - On January 5, as Tokyo's commuters were struggling back to work after their long New Year break, blaring sirens from every phone pierced the sleepy atmosphere: "strong" earthquake coming.

The message delivered via the country's alert system, part of its much-hyped J-Alert mechanism, warned of a big one directly hitting the Japanese capital - potentially on the scale of the devastating 2011 earthquake that wrought massive destruction.