Thousands of residents from the coastal towns of Dauin, Zamboanguita, Siaton, Sta. Catalina, Bayawan and Basay fled their homes and sought the safety of higher ground Thursday over a rumor that a tsunami was going to hit southern Oriental Negros Thursday night.

The tsunami rumor started from a text message that circulated like wildfire after an intensity 7.8 earthquake struck a place in Africa Thursday morning. It can be recalled that a tsunami triggered by the earthquake that hit Indonesia in December 2004 reached the eastern coast of Africa. The police declared the text message a fraud last Thursday night, but there was no more time to stop the evacuation. Oriental police provincial director Melvin Ramon Buenafe said the text message originally came from someone in HongKong who sent the text message to relatives in Oriental Negros after hearing about the African earthquake.

On Apo island, off the coast of Dauin town, nearly half of the island's 1,000 residents walked more than 300 steps uphill to seek safety near the island's lighthouse. "Even those who had delicate medical conditions were able to climb to the lighthouse out of fear," Apo Barangay captain Mario Pascobello said.

Pascobello added that because there was no covered area near the lighthouse, the evacuees just slept in the cassava plantation. "Many of them were bitten by centipedes," he told the DAILY STAR by text message.

After seeing that the report turned was a hoax, the Apo Island evacuees paraded down the lighthouse steps early Friday morning.

In Siaton, undecided coastal residents fled their homes Thursday dawn after a brownout hit their village Friday dawn. Siaton information officer, Tamara Uy, said the evacuation started at about 12 midnight. "The people left their livestock and properties behind--there was no time to pack, especially after fishermen reported that the waves were unusually bigger that evening," Uy said.

In Basay town, most fishermen stayed in their homes but sent their wives and children to the mountains. Lucila Sapepe, Basay information officer, said most evacuees came from Purok 3 of Barangay Poblacion.

"Mayor Beda Canamaque tried to convince the people to return to their homes because the report was untrue, but most of them were too scared to believe it," Sapepe said.

Even Gov. George Arnaiz said his own relatives in the town of Sta. Catalina evacuated to the hills. He said it is human nature to believe in rumors. "But tell them that the tsunami report is a hoax and they'll never believe you!"*AP

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