DUSHANBE, January 12, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajik law enforcement authorities are currently taking measures to establish the source of rumors that caused the earthquake panic in the country on the night of January 9-10, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Mahmadullo Asadulloyev, a spokesman for a MoI, said that no increase in the number of thefts and burglaries was reported in the country on the Saturday night.
As it had been reported earlier, many residents of Dushanbe and Kulob spent the night of January 9-10 out in the cold in expectation of “a devastating earthquake.” People left their houses following earthquake panic caused by Friday’s rumors.
Rumors of strong earthquake up to 9.0 on the Richter scale in Tajikistan spread last Friday have caused panic among people, disturbing their daily lives. Many residents of Dushanbe left their houses and spent the nigh out in the cold. Even those who did not leave their house kept awake till 4:00 am.
The interesting thing is that nobody knew the original source of this news. Some people said that their friends had heard report allegedly released by Akhbor (Tajik TV news), others referred to seismological station and even extrasensory individuals and clairvoyants. According to that “hearsay” report, the devastating earthquake of up to 9.0 on Richter scale was allegedly to hi Tajikistan from 11:00 pm of January 9 to 3:00 am of January 10.
The similar situation was reported in Kulob as well, where the majority of residents also spent the night in the open. According to them, they heard about “the devastating quake” from their relatives and friends living in Dushanbe.
Tajik authorities denied the earthquake rumors as unfounded Saturday morning. It is to be noted that the first official report denying the quake rumors appeared in a creeping line on the TV news channel, Jahonnamo, on Saturday at 4:00 am.
Saturday morning, internationally known Tajik scientist-seismologist, academician Sobit Nematulloyev, appeared on television and denied those rumors as absolutely unfounded.
“Seismologists are still not able to forecast exact time of quakes; however, we may say with confidence that no strong quake is foreseen in Tajikistan in the coming days,” the academician said. According to him, a modern system of seismic monitoring network stations with satellite communications established in Tajikistan operates in a real-time regime.
