Japan: Caution against downplaying gap between predictions and actual tsunami

The Mainichi Daily News reports on the recent tsunami predictions issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency last weekend following the earthquake in Chile, and the process that led to the major warning.

"Just because there is a gap between some predictions and the actual tsunami, it is important not to take them lightly, and to heed warnings in evacuating' said Yoshiaki Kawata, professor at Kansai University. "The gap cannot be helped under the current system in which predictions are based on data of earthquakes that take place in waters close to Japan," he added.

"Compared to observation points where wave height is recorded, waves in the innermost areas of a gulf can reach twice the size because multiple waves overlap each other," said Kenji Satake, professor at the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute.

"We should not be calling the recent 'gap' in the predictions and the eventual tsunami as being the result of 'errors.' People should accept the information issued by the JMA as worst-case scenarios."