From the
Philippine Daily Inquirer.
MANILA, Philippines—Better brush up on geography to prevent getting fooled by hoax text messages and information amid the radiation alert in Japan, the country’s chief volcanologist said Tuesday.
“It is important for us to go back to what we've learned in Araling Panlipunan, particularly geography so that we won't be alarmed by such text messages and we can avoid the unnecessary worry,” said Renato Solidum Jr., head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
He said the tsunami alert the Phivolcs raised on the eastern coast of the country following the powerful quake and tsunami that ravaged Japan on Friday, also caused residents in the Philippines' western region to suffer needless panic attacks.
Fear also gripped some parts of the country on Monday following false reports that radioactive fallout from crippled nuclear plants in Japan would reach the Philippines.
The rumors, which circulated through text messages, sent people home from school and work and drove a number of them to buy Betadine in the false belief that it would protect them from radioactive particles blowing from Japan.
The text messages spread even as officials and experts repeatedly announced that the prevailing wind was blowing northeast toward the Pacific Ocean and would not reach the country.
Solidum requested the media to incorporate a little background on geography whenever they broadcast reports about the effects of the nuclear power crisis on the quake-ravaged northeastern coast of Japan.
"We need to educate them so when you present news, give them a little bit of a background because there are a lot of people panicking even if they don't have to," he said at a forum hosted by the Catholic Media Network in Intramuros, Manila.
Even Justice Secretary Leila de Lima almost fell for the hoax text message warning that a nuclear fallout would affect the Philippines.
De Lima said a simple check with the BBC news channel showed that the supposed “news flash” from the British broadcaster was untrue.
However, not all Filipinos have access to cable television, De Lima pointed out.
De Lima at a press conference joked that she almost asked someone to buy Betadine as well, as instructed by the text message.
With the near-panic generated by fake warnings, she said she was inclined to “propose” that the authorities track down its source.
De Lima said the source of the message should be held accountable especially if he or she sent it out “in bad faith.”
“Because these are scary times with these disasters happening, we don't want to exacerbate the situation by those unfounded news,” she said.
The justice secretary has a standing order to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to track down sources of prank text messages warning of bombings.
De Lima said the pseudo warnings on the effects of a nuclear fallout in the country were covered by her directive.
While it is a challenge to identify the sources of text messages, the NBI has equipment that could do it although these are not as sophisticated as what's on the hit US television detective show “CSI.”
De Lima said that those accountable for the prank messages could be charged with crimes against public order.
She noted a lot of people fall for the fake warnings because “the way it was presented, it's believable.”The only people who benefited from this text hoax is the drug companies.
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