Confusion Down Under Australian weather bureau sends tsunami warning by mistake
An accidental tsunami warning in Australia is causing confusion. The country's national weather bureau (BOM) has mistakenly issued a warning for the east coast.
25.09.2024, 11:22
SDA
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- A tsunami warning was inadvertently sent to the public in parts of Australia as a push notification.
- This was despite the fact that it was only a test.
- The Australian Bureau of Meteorology apologized for the confusion after the warning was quickly deleted, acknowledging that the test should have been more clearly marked.
- The erroneous warning briefly caused panic, particularly in the affected states.
The warning for the states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania was played as a push notification on the BOM weather app as well as other early warning apps on Wednesday morning (local time) - although it was only a test.
"The warnings were mistakenly sent to the public during tests of the tsunami early warning system software," the weather bureau later announced.
"A brief panic gripped parts of eastern Australia"
According to the weather bureau, the warnings were immediately deleted. "Our agency is aware of the confusion caused by this test and apologizes for it."
Queensland's disaster management coordinator, Shane Chelepy, described the oversight as "regrettable" and emphasized that the warning should never have been sent out. "It did state that it was a test, but it wasn't as clear as it should have been."
Many users took to social media to express their confusion. "A brief panic gripped parts of eastern Australia," wrote the Australian Guardian.
