Phivolcs dismisses earthquake rumors
By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:13:00 07/07/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- July 18 is not doomsday for the Philippines.
The Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has dismissed as bogus an e-mail warning of an 8.1-magnitude earthquake that would shake the country next week.
"There is no basic science behind it," said Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum Jr. in a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer following a 4.5-magnitude tremor that rocked several portions of Luzon Sunday night.
Solidum said there was no science organization that could determine or predict an earthquake—its exact magnitude and date.
The so-called deadly quake, which has been circulating in e-mails, blogs and on-line journals, was reportedly predicted by a 47-year-old Brazilian teacher, Juseleeno Nobulega Daroose.
Written in poor English, the letter claimed that Daroose foretold correctly the death of Princess Diana, the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the powerful tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, among others things.
The man also allegedly predicted that a 9.1-magnitude earthquake would hit Nanning and Hainan in China on September 13 and that the temperature in many African countries would peak to a scorching 58 degrees Celsius in 2010.
"All the events which Mr. Juseleeno predicted had clear indication of the year, month date of the disasters, in case any third party wants to confirm the facticity (sic) of his prophesy (sic). Mr. Juseleeno always put the story which he predicted to the notarization office or post office for the approval," read the anonymous e-mail.
The Brazilian "prophet" supposedly started having dreams about disasters and global events at age nine. He supposedly predicted a total of 80,000 events, including the "earthquake" that would rock the Philippines Friday next week.
The pessimistic message also warned all Filipinos to skip work and avoid going to high places and crowded malls on that day.
"Please let us be alert and mark this date, July 18, 2008, Friday. Let's be prepared and let us all pray that this will not happen to us… Maybe, this is God's way to save you, your family, your friends and your officemates or [to] lessen casualties," said the letter.
Debunking the allegedly looming tremor, Solidum said that before the public started panicking and believing the e-mail, it was best to check the authenticity of Daroose's identity.
"It must be [proven] whether this person is real or not," he said.
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