Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Jan 06: A message forecasting major earthquake in and around Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is doing round in Social media and many people are forwarding the message without even giving a second thought, which has now triggered panic among many Islanders.
The message claimed to be written by Mr. Prasana Waichal, in three languages, Hindi, Marathi and English, claims that there might be a major earthquake between 8 Jan to 17 Jan 2021, in Andaman or nearby region.
The message neither provides any scientific data to back this claim nor proper source of this information and hence it appears to be ‘fake’. But even though this message is now being widely circulated in social media and Andaman Sheekha got half a dozens of calls from readers for clarification regarding this issue.
When Andaman Sheekha contacted officials of State Emergency Operation Room of Disaster control, they said that no one can predict earthquake and the operation room has already got some calls from public, who want to cross check the information.
Officials in State Emergency Operation Room of Disaster control urged public not to panic and not to forward such fake messages, with unknown source.
When contacted the Deputy Commissioner of South Andaman also said that no one can predict earthquake and hence such messages must be ignored. However, he assured that the District Administration is always ready to deal with any crisis.
Andaman and Nicobar islands fall in seismic zone V and hence earthquakes are common and hence such fake claims must be ignored.
