Myanmar authorities have arrested a TikTok astrologer for spreading panic by predicting one other robust earthquake within the aftermath of last month’s tremor, state media stated Thursday.
John Moe The, who has a TikTok following of greater than 300,000, forecast on April 9 {that a} “very robust” quake would hit “each metropolis in Myanmar” in 12 days’ time.
“Folks mustn’t keep in tall buildings through the day,” stated the caption on his video seen 3.3 million occasions.
“Take essential issues with you and run away from buildings through the shaking.”
Last month’s earthquake in Myanmar’s central belt killed greater than 3,700 and has left 60,000 dwelling in tent encampments, in accordance with the UN, many too fearful to return house as aftershocks proceed.
The 21-year-old John Moe The was arrested in a morning raid on his house in central Monywa metropolis on Tuesday, in accordance with a press release by Myanmar’s army authorities printed in state media on Thursday.
“We bought a tip-off about pretend information being unfold by way of a TikTok account {that a} extreme earthquake will hit,” stated the assertion.
“Motion might be taken successfully in opposition to him in accordance with the legislation. Likewise, we will even take motion successfully in opposition to those that write or unfold or share pretend information.”
Yangon resident Nan Nan informed AFP she had not believed the social media submit, however many neighbors had.
“Most of my neighbors dared to not keep of their flats and lived out on the road on that day,” the 35-year-old stated. “My pal even employed a small home exterior Yangon in preparation.”
John Moe The’s TikTok account is titled “John (Palmistry)” and points common textual content predictions in opposition to the backdrop of a swirling cosmos.
His forecasts included different climate disasters, the discharge of civilian chief Aung San Suu Kyi who was deposed within the nation’s 2021 coup, and American airstrikes on Myanmar’s soil.
Earthquake early warning techniques do exist — sensing the jolt and beaming out a sign sooner than the pace of the shockwave.
Nevertheless, the USA Geological Survey (USGS) says predicting tremors forward of time is scientifically inconceivable.
“Neither the USGS nor some other scientists have ever predicted a serious earthquake,” says a press release on their web site.
“We have no idea how, and we don’t count on to understand how any time within the foreseeable future.”
Getting assist to these in want in Myanmar has proved troublesome in a rustic the place key infrastructure was badly broken and the place a civil war had already been raging earlier than the 7.7 magnitude quake.
In neighboring Thailand, the quake was felt strongly in capital Bangkok, however just one massive constructing fully collapsed. Thai authorities have ordered an investigation into that remoted collapse to find out whether or not it may have been as a result of insufficient constructing supplies, design flaws or a failure within the inspections course of.
