PENANG (Jan 19, 2007): A malfunctioning intranet system of the seismology division of the Malaysian Meteorological Department of  the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry resulted in a wrong earthquake alert advisory being disseminated today.

The advisory issued shortly after 11am was on an earthquake/tsunami alert Level 2 with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale which had “occurred” at 10.45am near northern Sumatra, with the centre of the earthquake being near Pekan Baru,
250km southwest of Kuala Lumpur.

It also stated that tremors were expected to be felt in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia with a small possibility of a local destructive tsunami which could affect the coasts of Kedah, Perlis and Penang.

It also advised people to stay away from the beach and to be on standby for further instructions from the authorities.

A seismology division spokesman said this was the first time that such an error had occurred.

“We apologise for the confusion that has arisen from this advisory but this is not due to a typo error. Whenever there is an earthquake, we key in the necessary information into our own intranet system which is then sent to the relevant agencies, including the media.

“However, our system had some form of failure and the wrong message was sent out through the intranet system. Our ICT department is currently running checks to determine how this could have happened,” she added.

She said a revision of the earthquake information was sent out later on an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale which occurred south of Java, 225km southwest of Yogyakarta, 1248km south of Kuching at 10.44am with no tsunami threat.

A Reuters report from KUALA LUMPUR:  Malaysian authorities mistakenly issued a tsunami warning today, and their embarrassment only deepened when beachgoers failed to receive it.

“It’s a technical glitch. The system broke down and it issued an old warning to everyone including the media,” said the science minister’s press secretary Ainon Mohd.

“We are asking the press to ignore the warning,” she said.

But one local media group had already issued the warning twice via its nationwide text-message service. The warning came from the meteorological department, part of the science ministry.

But beachgoers on the resort island of Penang, hit by the devastating Asian tsunami in 2004, were blissfully unaware.

“We did not get any reports of a tsunami here. Our guests are not disturbed, they are enjoying themselves,” said an executive at the Parkroyal hotel on Penang’s famed Batu Ferringhi coast.

The warning said a strong earthquake in northern Sumatra could cause a tsunami in the northern states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang and warned people to stay off the beach.

The government set up its own tsunami alert system after the Asian tsunami on Dec 26, 2004, which killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including Malaysia.

A Pacific-wide tsunami drill held last May found glitches in the regional alert network, including a faulty fax machine in Malaysia.