(Kyodo News International via NewsEdge) NTT Communications said it will start Internet-based test transmission of an earthquake warning service to PC users in conjunction with the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Under the four-month test service, NTT Communications will send such information as the agency's forecasts on the magnitude of an imminent quake on the Japanese seismic scale as well as how long it will take before a major temblor strikes areas of the service's subscribers, it said.
NTT Communications is seeking to arrange for 30,000 to 50,000 monitors to take part in the test, which will be also held in cooperation with Halex, a Yokohama-based provider of weather-related information.
The quake warning service was started by the agency in August.
The agency's warnings have been transmitted to corporate customers with the help of Halex via the Net.
NTT Communications' test transmission would mark the first time that the service is provided to individual users.
The agency, which plans to start a full-fledged warning service for the public by the end of 2007, wants to gather information on individuals' needs for the service as well as how service recipients would behave in response to such warnings, on the basis of the test.
Recipients of the warning service need to be subscribers of NTT Communications' OCN Internet hookup service.
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