January 1, 2005
Dangerous virus in Seafood a hurtful SMS rumor
The text message widely circulating in India warning against eating sea food, as "fish are thriving on corpses of thousands of men, women and heads of cattle which were swept away that fateful Sunday and have not been fished out yet. Consuming these fish would lead to outbreak of diseases", is not an alert sounded by the government.
And it has dealt yet another blow to fishermen who lost almost everything except their lives, besides some of their kin, in the deadly surge.
Talking to News Today, Bhaktavatsalam, a resident of Zameen Pallavaram, said, 'we are afraid to consume seafood now. Though the fish are being sold at rock bottom prices, a sense of fear, perhaps after receiving such an SMS, prevents us from buying them'.
'It's the handiwork of a few rumour-mongers. We are not selling fish that were already found dead. The fish being sold in the markets will in no way spread any virus as they are caught only in the deep seas. Moreover, majority of marine creatures like mackerel, star fish and prawns are caught off the Andhra Pradesh coast which was not as badly hit by the tsunami as Tamilnadu was, he said.
-- Links to all Tsunami/cell phone stories posted in Textually.org.
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