DUSHANBE, KULOB, January 10, 2009,Asia-Plus -- Many residents of Dushanbe and Kulob spent the night of January 9-10 out in the cold in expectation of “a devastating earthquake.”  People left their houses following earthquake panic caused by Friday’s rumors.

Rumors of strong earthquakes up to 9.0 on the Richter scale in Tajikistan last Friday have caused panic among people, disturbing their daily lives.  Many residents of Dushanbe left their houses and spent the nigh out in the cold.  Even those who did not leave their house kept awake till 4:00 am.

The interesting thing is that nobody knew the original source of this news.  Some people said that their friends had heard report allegedly released by Akhbor (Tajik TV news), others referred to seismological station and even extrasensory individuals and clairvoyants.  According to that “hearsay” report, the devastating earthquake of up to 9.0 on Richter scale was allegedly to hi Tajikistan from 11:00 pm of January 9 to 3:00 am of January 10.

The similar situation was reported in Kulob as well, where the majority of residents also spent the night in the open.  According to them, they heard about “the devastating quake” from their relative and friends living in Dushanbe.

Tajik authorities denied the earthquake rumors as unfounded Saturday morning.  It is to be noted that the first official report denying the quake rumor appeared in a creeping line on the TV news channel, Jahonnamo, on Saturday at 4:00 am.