Rumours scare Romans

ROME (AP):

Rome wasn't built in a day, but many Romans feared it might be destroyed in one, on May 11.

The Italian capital was gripped by a psychosis over a purported prediction by a now-dead seismologist that a devastating temblor would strike the city yesterday, Wednesday. Even as seismologists and officials including the mayor sought to reassure residents and stress that earthquakes cannot be predicted, the quake myth took on a life of its own in viral rumour-mongering on the Internet.

Spurred by superstition, some Romans left town just in case. The consumer group Aduc estimated that 20 per cent of Romans did not go to work. And an agriculture lobby group said a survey of farm-hotels outside the capital indicated some superstitious Romans had headed to the countryside for the day.

Many storefronts were shuttered, for example, in a neighbourhood of Chinese-owned shops near the city's central train station. A man in a coffee bar that did stay open in the neighbourhood, donned a construction worker's helmet as he served morning cappuccinos and croissants, the ANSA news agency said.

By sundown, the fears had not materialised. Instead, two quakes hit another Mediterranean nation, Spain.