Thursday, May 15, 2008 Text hoaxes on quake circulate, alarm public
TEXT messages about an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 scheduled to hit the Philippines last night alerted the public.
“U.S Geological Society predicts a 6.8 magnitude earthquake (that) will hit Philippines’ plates tonight. Please be calm & alert. This text message is from Hawaii state emergency preparedness office. Please pass (no harm in being prepared) lets pray this will not happen...” read the text message, which was circulated yesterday.
However, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said in a statement yesterday afternoon that the text message was a hoax.
“This hoax started the day after the magnitude 7.9 China earthquake of May 12,” read the statement.
Inquiries
Phivolcs said there is no recorded ‘US Geological Society,’ only a US Geological Survey.
The US Geological Survey also does not issue immediate predictions, especially in areas outside the US.
In a radio dyLA interview, Robinson Jorgio, a seismologist from Phivolcs-Mactan admitted that the whole day yesterday their phones were ringing with inquiries about the truth behind the text messages.
“Wa pa gani ko’y paniudto (I haven’t eaten my lunch yet because of the calls),” he added jokingly.
Intensity
Jorgio said it is impossible to predict the intensity of an earthquake and even determine when and what time the earthquake would hit.
“Sa klaro pagkasulti, dili mi maka-tag-an ug linog (The truth is we cannot predict an earthquake),” he said.
It is only after an earthquake has hit that they can determine its intensity, when and where it hit.
It is with the help of seismographs that they can detect if an earthquake has hit an area.
“Although ang Pilipinas kanunay apektohan ug dagkong linog pero ang (the Philippines is always affected by earthquakes of big magnitude) exact kung asa dapit, kanus-a ug unsa kadako-on dili gyud na namo ma (but as to where, when and as to its intensity, we could not really) predict,” Jorgio said.(EPB)
