Fake tsunami warnings via SMS cause panic in Cebu, residents in mad dash to higher ground

A video clip taken in Cebu on Monday, February 6, when fake tsunami alerts sent people running. (YouTube video uploaded by user accarl)

Interaksyon.com reports that "in the wake of a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit off Negros island" on Monday (February 6), fake tsunami warnings-which were spread via text messages-caused Cebu City residents to panic. As people made a mad dash for higher ground, traffic got jammed.

The Interaksyon.com report noted: "However, the main seismic event or the two aftershocks felt within half an hour of the first tremor had not caused as much tumult as the false report of a tsunami already encroaching the city’s downtown district at 2 p.m."

According to the report, order was restored "when patrol cars of the different police stations in the city, each with public address equipment, began going around and announcing that the tsunami reports were false."

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