SMS tsunami rumor hits Sumatra

Rumors that a volcanic eruption had sent a tsunami crashing toward the coast spread through a seaside town on Indonesia's Sumatra Island early Tuesday, prompting thousands of panicked residents to flee to high ground, witnesses and media reports said, according to The Hindu.

"It was unclear how Tuesday's rumor began, but it quickly spread by word of mouth and SMS test message, the state news agency Antara Antara reported. By about 2.a.m., almost all the mosques in the town were broadcasting tsunami warnings from their loudspeakers along with religious verses, it said.

Unfounded rumors have sparked similar panic in other parts of Indonesia since the tsunami."

emily | 9:57 AM | Tsunamis, South East Asia |
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