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Residents flee on false earthquake rumor
By Wang Xiang |
April 19, 2010, Monday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
THOUSANDS of residents in a northwestern China city fled their homes and gathered in public squares early yesterday after a rumor of an earthquake.
Authorities in Aletai City of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region dispelled the rumor through radio and television broadcasts today after the fleeing residents threw the city's traffic into chaos early yesterday.
The rumor that a major earthquake would strike around 3am yesterday started to spread in Aletai on Saturday, according to local news Website iyaxin.com.
As soon as people heard the rumor they started calling friends and family, and almost every one rushed out of their home to wait for the earthquake in the city's public square while it was snowing, the report said.
The gathered crowd did not disperse until 7am yesterday. People living in several neighboring counties also took their own safety measures, including moving from their apartment buildings into old single-storey houses.
The authorities said local police have begun to investigate the source of the rumor. The Aletai earthquake authority said the rumor was too accurate to be true, and that experts detected no signs indicating an earthquake.
Bureau head Du Xinmin said almost no one in Aletai slept on Saturday night because people were already on edge because of the magnitude-7.1 quake in Qinghai Province.
Earthquake rumors had also jolted Beijing, Hebei Province and the Inner-Mongolia Autonomous Region after the Qinghai quake. The China Earthquake Administration has dispelled these rumors.
In February, Shanxi Province police detained five people for spreading earthquake rumors that sent thousands of people to the streets for a whole night fearing an imminent disaster.
Their online posts, entitled "Have a look at this, if you still want to live," said there was a 90 percent chance a quake would hit Shanxi, quoting an "inside information from a friend at the national earthquake administration."
The Shanxi rumor started from misinterpreting the authorities' plan to launch a review of emergency procedures to deal with a real earthquake, according to a previous report.
Authorities in Aletai City of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region dispelled the rumor through radio and television broadcasts today after the fleeing residents threw the city's traffic into chaos early yesterday.
The rumor that a major earthquake would strike around 3am yesterday started to spread in Aletai on Saturday, according to local news Website iyaxin.com.
As soon as people heard the rumor they started calling friends and family, and almost every one rushed out of their home to wait for the earthquake in the city's public square while it was snowing, the report said.
The gathered crowd did not disperse until 7am yesterday. People living in several neighboring counties also took their own safety measures, including moving from their apartment buildings into old single-storey houses.
The authorities said local police have begun to investigate the source of the rumor. The Aletai earthquake authority said the rumor was too accurate to be true, and that experts detected no signs indicating an earthquake.
Bureau head Du Xinmin said almost no one in Aletai slept on Saturday night because people were already on edge because of the magnitude-7.1 quake in Qinghai Province.
Earthquake rumors had also jolted Beijing, Hebei Province and the Inner-Mongolia Autonomous Region after the Qinghai quake. The China Earthquake Administration has dispelled these rumors.
In February, Shanxi Province police detained five people for spreading earthquake rumors that sent thousands of people to the streets for a whole night fearing an imminent disaster.
Their online posts, entitled "Have a look at this, if you still want to live," said there was a 90 percent chance a quake would hit Shanxi, quoting an "inside information from a friend at the national earthquake administration."
The Shanxi rumor started from misinterpreting the authorities' plan to launch a review of emergency procedures to deal with a real earthquake, according to a previous report.
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