MANILA, Philippines?July 18 is not doomsday for the Philippines.
The Philippine Institute of 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,? Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum Jr. said 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.
Brazilian teacher
The so-called deadly quake, which has been circulating in e-mails, blogs and online journals, was reportedly predicted by a 47-year-old Brazilian teacher, Juseleeno Nobulega Daroose.
Written in poor English, the letter claimed that Daroose had 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 other things.
The Brazilian has also allegedly predicted that a 9.1-magnitude earthquake would hit Nanning and Hainan in China on Sept. 13 and that the temperature in many African countries would peak to a scorching 58 degrees Celsius in 2010.
Notarized prediction
?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 the age of 9. He supposedly has predicted a total of 80,000 events, including the ?earthquake? that would rock the Philippines on Friday next week.
Check authenticity
The apocalyptic 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.
Several weblogs, the texts of which were culled from the purported ?Doomsday e-mail,? describe Juseleeno Nobulega DaRoose (also spelled on some websites as Jucelino Nóbrega da Luz) as ?Brazilian, born in 1960.?
The blogs say that Daroose dreamt ?three events a day, sometimes nine events.?
In 2005, Reuters reported that Da Luz claimed the US government owed him a $25-million reward for information he said he provided on the hiding place of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was captured in December of 2003.
Brazil?s second-highest court, the Superior Court of Justice, decided in October of 2005 that the Brazilian justice system could rule on the matter. With a report from Inquirer Research
