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The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Wednesday urged the public to ignore and stop spreading the “alarming but baseless” messages that an impending quake will occur between July 27 and 29.
In a statement, the Phivolcs stressed that it does not issue official predictions of an impending earthquake.
It also does not have a “land monitoring” division, belying reports that the supposed source of the information which has been circulating via SMS and social media networks is “a friend’s cousin in Philvocs [sic] … in charge of d land monitoring”.
“At present, the science of earthquake prediction has not yet matured to the point that imminent earthquakes can be predicted [time, location and size of earthquakes] using a rational model. There is no technology in the world that can reliably predict the occurrence of earthquakes,” said Phivolcs.
“This message has questionable sources and lacks scientific evidence to support its claims. It obviously seeks to deceive and create panic among the recipients of this hoax message so that it would be forwarded to relatives and friends,” it added.
The Phivolcs strongly advised the public to completely ignore, delete and avoid forwarding the content of any similar messages.
“Phivolcs remains committed to providing accurate reliable and timely information regarding earthquake occurrences and its possible effects to the Philippines,” it said.
Last May, Phivolcs director Renato Solidum also dismissed as a hoax text messages that said a massive earthquake will hit Metro Manila on May 28.
“As we know, earthquakes can’t be predicted. What we can do is to prepare appropriately for the scenario,” Solidum had said. “These circulating texts would not be helping. We should make our own preparations.”
Photo: MorgueFile
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
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