Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

I can hear Harry Kim now...

'... rumor being spread by terrorists attempting to shut down emergency communications and transportation facilities...'

Well Harry Kim did get on the Civil Defense EAS system with a broadcast that was repeated all night long here on the Big Island that this was a "cruel joke" and that ther perpetrator should be hung by his balls and burned at the stake...okay he didn't say that part.

But he did end his broadcast with a "have a good evening and sleep well". Those were comforting words on the eve of what was a really bad joke.

[joshuatree]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

What's a good threshold? Good question, something the folks at civil defense needs to establish. What is their method of determining whether or not they need to issue a warning at this point?

You'll always have gullible people spreading wrong info. You might as well try to inform all the level headed people so they can keep the gullible people in check.

[poinographer]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

What would you propose as the threshold to initiate this full-on media response to quash a rumor? After the first bogus call to 911, the 10th, the 100th?

Whatever threshold is chosen, it then (at least for the dimwits out there) becomes a matter of "well, I haven't heard a denial yet, so it must be true and I need to spread the word to everyone I know!"

[Mahi Waina]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

Civil defense should have just saturated every media that it was a hoax as soon as it caught word of it. That would have reduced the flooding of calls from the public. Broadcast on tv, broadcast on radio, have every cell phone operator do a mass SMS text to all cell phones.

I can hear Harry Kim now...

'... rumor being spread by terrorists attempting to shut down emergency communications and transportation facilities...'

[joshuatree]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

Hmmm. Hoax... later shown to have no merit whatsoever... wasted huge amounts of government money and needlessly endangered the lives of military personnel... deliberately propagated to distract attention from a yet larger crime...

Hmmmmm.

Civil defense should have just saturated every media that it was a hoax as soon as it caught word of it. That would have reduced the flooding of calls from the public. Broadcast on tv, broadcast on radio, have every cell phone operator do a mass SMS text to all cell phones.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

Because it wastes government resources (civil defense, HPD, FBI, etc.), and cheats the general public of real news (since news organizations are too busy fielding non-stop phone calls). Not to mention that hoaxes are sometimes deliberately propagated to distract law enforcement, so that a bigger crime can go undetected.

Hmmm. Hoax... later shown to have no merit whatsoever... wasted huge amounts of government money and needlessly endangered the lives of military personnel... deliberately propagated to distract attention from a yet larger crime...

Hmmmmm.

[scrivener]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

Well you are a teacher, scriv. I am not. So who’s job is it anyway?

"whose."

Because it wastes government resources (civil defense, HPD, FBI, etc.), and cheats the general public of real news (since news organizations are too busy fielding non-stop phone calls). Not to mention that hoaxes are sometimes deliberately propagated to distract law enforcement, so that a bigger crime can go undetected.

First of all, what Civil Defense, HPD, and FBI resources were wasted Sunday night? Second, sure it cheats the public, but the news organizations have been cheating the public of real news since the beginning of news. If anything, the hoax probably increased viewership, and let's not forget that whatever "public good" these news agencies are serving (and I know you work in the business, so please know that I have serious respect for them), they are a business first. Was this hoax good for business or bad for business, I ask you? Be honest!

In what way was law enforcement distracted by this "secret" message about a possible earthquake?

Should Orson Welles have gone to jail for The War of the Worlds, or Aku for his April Fool's Day parade in Waikiki?

[TuNnL]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

We need to teach people not to be so gullible, and to know whom to believe.

Well you are a teacher, scriv. I am not. So who’s job is it anyway?

Why should it be illegal to propagate a hoax?

Because it wastes government resources (civil defense, HPD, FBI, etc.), and cheats the general public of real news (since news organizations are too busy fielding non-stop phone calls). Not to mention that hoaxes are sometimes deliberately propagated to distract law enforcement, so that a bigger crime can go undetected.

[damontucker]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

If this is the case... I will also say that Hawaii will be hit by a TSUNAMI 100% by my prediction....

Just hope it's not in my life time....

National Geographic has a scary recreation of the event WHEN IT DOES happen.

It's titled "Ultimate Tsunami"

[poinographer]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

Yeah. A friend of mine, whose brother knows some smarty-pants vaguely-official sounding maybe-civil-defense dude, called and told me he had heard the same thing! It must be true. Gotta go buy some bottled water and head for the hills.

HA HA

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

Uh, the "prediction" mentioned in that article was that those earthquakes were caused by a volcanic eruption. Actually, it would have been better to use the word "hypothesis," but whatever.

There was no prediction of the actual earthquake events. Important difference.

Well I predict that an earthquake will happen somewhere, sometime here on Earth. My prediction is 100% accurate based on that assumption

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

My favorite part of the story?

"We want the public to believe us so these cases where false rumors get spread are like crying wolf and we don't want the public to become complacent," said (UH Seismologist Dr. Cecily) Wolfe.

Quite the aptronym.

[poinographer]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

Somehow I doubt that the type of suckers that believed/spread this rumor are the same people who pay close attention to the latest in volcanology and seismic monitoring news.

[damontucker]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

Uh, the "prediction" mentioned in that article was that those earthquakes were caused by a volcanic eruption. Actually, it would have been better to use the word "hypothesis," but whatever.

There was no prediction of the actual earthquake events. Important difference.

And this is why I stated that it MAY HAVE STEMMED from this.

[poinographer]

Re: Hawai'i and severe earthquakes

Uh, the "prediction" mentioned in that article was that those earthquakes were caused by a volcanic eruption. Actually, it would have been better to use the word "hypothesis," but whatever.

There was no prediction of the actual earthquake events. Important difference.