A fake magnitude 8 earthquake that will hit Bohol and Cebu triggered panic among residents of the two islands after a text circulated on Sunday about the possible earthquake in the already devastated area. Residents who have received the text message left their homes and sought higher ground last night especially in the island of Bohol.
According to the text message, the magnitude 8 earthquake will hit Bohol at around 8:00 PM on Sunday. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology denied the rumors, saying that no instrument can predict an earthquake. The agency only noted that aftershocks are common after a major earthquake.
Meanwhile, the officer-in-charge of Cebu’s Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Neil Angelo Sanchez, pointed out that there is no instrument yet that can predict earthquakes, and official information about such phenomena can only come from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) and other earthquake monitoring outfits.
The Cebu Provincial Government called on Cebuanos to ignore the text rumors and avoid forwarding them to others to avoid spreading more panic among residents who were already affected by the 7.2 earthquake that hit Visayas last Monday.
As of posting time, the source of the fake earthquake message is still not known, all people living in Visayas and Mindanao were advised to delete the text and are advised to stop the chain message.