Thousands of people will die

What is faster than a speeding bullet?
The grapevine.
What is faster than the grapevine?
Rumors on the internet.

A few days ago a friend sent me the following email:

July 18, 2008 – [Country X] will get 8.1 earthquake, thousands of people will die. PLS. LET US BE ALERT AND
MARK THIS DATE JULY 18, 2008, FRIDAY. LET'S BE PREPARED, AND LET US ALL PRAY THAT THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN TO US.
IF POSSIBLE: PLS. DON'T GO TO WORK ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH OFFICE LOCATED IN HIGH PLACES, BUILDINGS, CONDOS AND MALLS.
NOTHING TO LOSE IN THIS KIND OF REMINDER. MAYBE, THIS IS GOD'S WAY TO SAVE YOU, YOUR FAMILY , YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR OFFICEMATES OR LESSEN CASUALTIES. LET'S ALL PRAY AND MARK THIS DATE.
PLS. FORWARD TO ALL YOUR CONTACT LIST TO WARN YOUR RELATIVES, FRIENDS AND YOUR LOVED ONES AND ALL PEOPLE LIVING IN [COUNTRY X]
.
AGAIN: REMEMBER JULY 18, 2008 – HAVE AN ALARM ON THIS DATE.

IF YOU WANT TO READ MORE….

This was followed by a long story of a Brazilian mystic called Mr. Juseleeno Nobulega DaRoose , and a list of major catastrophes he predicts over the next 10 years. There was also a list of all sorts of major world events he supposedly predicted with great accuracy. It said he had been a Nobel Peace Prize winner so I did a web search figuring if that was true then surely he’d be on the web. All I found were dozens and dozens of Chinese and other Asian language blog pages with the same story – only highlighting whatever “prophecies” applied to their particular country. Eventually I discovered the name had been mangled but that there is indeed a Brazilian mystic called Jucelino Nóbrega da Luz who makes his living predicting catasrophes around the globe, some of which happen, some of which don’t. (I mean, how likely is it that there will be earthquakes in countries in the earthquake zone? And how likely is it that volcanoes will erupt along the Ring of Fire?)

The interesting thing is that this story has now spread all over the place and gets worse all the time. The 8.1 earthquake of a few days ago was 10.1 yesterday and today my helper overheard her neighbors talking aboutthe coming 10.5 earthquake. The internet rumor has moved to the text world, and text rumors spread even faster than internet rumors. Everyday we hear of more and more people discussing this earthquake and praying that it won’t happen. Taxi drivers, shop keepers, fellow passengers, neighbors, church mates. I expect by next week there will be special prayer meetings called all over the city. (And who knows how strong the earthquake will be next week???)