Composition of rumors about Hengyang earthquake

On February 1 1 day and night, hundreds of thousands of residents in Chenzhou, Hengyang, Zhuzhou and other cities and counties in Hunan slept on the streets and spent a sleepless night in panic.

"An earthquake occurred in Anren and its surrounding areas in Hunan Province, and many houses collapsed!" Since 8 o'clock last night, some posts about "Anren earthquake" have been circulated on the Internet and spread through residents' telephones. With the spread of the news, the scope of influence is getting bigger and bigger, and the residents in the surrounding counties and cities who learned the news began to be restless and afraid to go into the house to have a rest.

"Although the local government refuted the rumors of this' earthquake' in time, the spread speed of rumors far exceeded the speed of the government's rumors.

People in the legal profession believe that in the face of rumors, it is very important for the government to refute and when to refute. For public emergencies, the government still needs to speed up rumors.

Rumors of "earthquake" spread wildly in southern Hunan.

Last night, as usual, Liu Ming, a citizen of Changsha, was getting ready for bed after watching TV. At this moment, the cell phone beside him suddenly rang.

"What's wrong with calling so late?" Liu Ming thought. After connecting the phone, Liu Ming heard his brother's anxious voice: "There was an earthquake in Anren County, and many houses collapsed. Now most residents in our county dare not sleep at home, and they all run to the street. What about Changsha? "

"earthquake! ? "Brother's phone let liu Ming panic. In order to know the details, Liu Ming immediately called the duty phone of the Seismological Bureau of Hunan Province, but the line was busy all the time, so Liu Ming turned on his computer and searched the Internet for relevant news.

"I didn't see this news on the official website of the Seismological Bureau of Hunan Province, and finally I saw some netizens' posts on the forum of a website. Some netizens claimed to be Anren, and they said with certainty that Anren had an earthquake and the house collapsed. Some netizens said that it was not an earthquake, but an explosion at a large local fireworks factory. The explosion shock wave shocked local residents. " After reading the posts of these netizens, Liu Ming became more and more uneasy: "Is there really an earthquake?"

"I dare not sleep until I get the exact news." Brother's phone call and netizens' messages made Liu Ming's family spend a sleepless night in panic.

The duty officer of the Seismological Bureau of Hunan Province also confirmed to our reporter today that since 8: 00 last night, the Seismological Bureau of Hunan Province has been receiving calls from the masses, reporting that earthquakes occurred in Yongxing and Anren in Chenzhou City, Hengnan, Hengyang, Leiyang and Jidong in Hengyang City, and houses collapsed. People in these areas are too scared to go in and have a rest. Local people working in Changsha, Guangzhou, Beijing and other places have called to ask.

Rumors catch up with government rumors.

"We have refuted the rumors that an earthquake occurred in Anren, which are widely rumored on the Internet and among the people." This morning, the duty officer of Anren County Government told the reporter.

At 0: 08 today, the Anren County Party Committee and the county government issued an urgent notice through Anren News Network, saying that "on the evening of February 1 1 day, some people in towns and villages in our county reported that the houses were shaking with glass, which was suspected to be an earthquake. Party committees and governments at the county level shall report to the Provincial Seismological Bureau and the Municipal Seismological Office in a timely manner. The Provincial Seismological Bureau and the Municipal Seismological Bureau clearly replied that there was no earthquake in Anren area. Please rest assured, don't panic, maintain normal production and living order and ensure social stability. "

According to Deng Dangxiong, secretary of Anren County Party Committee, Anren County has also rumored to the masses through radio, television, mobile phone text messages and other channels, asking everyone to remain calm. "As for abnormal phenomena such as shaking, relevant experts are looking for further reasons."

However, the rumor of "earthquake" seems to spread faster than the government. That night, residents of Chaling County, Youxian County, Hengyang City and some counties and cities in Zhuzhou City near Anren all heard the rumors of "earthquake". Some residents are afraid to sleep at home and run to the street one after another.

"People's panic is also related to the Wenchuan earthquake. Now everyone is Tony Wen. " Zhang Xiong, a resident who lives in Chengguan Town, Chaling County, told reporters.

The government should learn the skills of dispelling rumors.

According to the reporter's understanding, yesterday's sudden "Anren earthquake" incident also attracted the attention of Hunan provincial leaders. At 9: 00 this morning, Zhang Chunxian, secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, urgently summoned Quan Dehui, director of the Seismological Bureau of Hunan Province, to understand the situation. This morning, two deputy directors of the Seismological Bureau of Hunan Province led teams to Chenzhou and Hengyang respectively to assist the local governments in their work.

"Last night, I failed to get the official rumor for the first time, which increased the panic of the people to some extent." Tan Li, a resident of Changsha, said, "After hearing the rumors of the Anren earthquake, my first reaction was to check with the Provincial Seismological Bureau, but I didn't see any news about it on the official website of the Hunan Seismological Bureau."

The reporter also noticed that it was not until near 12 this morning that the Seismological Bureau of Hunan Province released two pieces of news about the Anren earthquake in official website.

"Today, with the rapid development of the Internet, most citizens are used to getting official news from the websites of government departments. In the event of such an emergency in the future, if the Provincial Seismological Bureau can release the news at the first time, maybe the rumor will be broken. " Tan Li suggested.

Wang Sanping, a resident of Anren County, told reporters on the phone: "Today, although the government departments rumored that there was no earthquake, what caused some houses to shake? We urgently need to know the relevant situation. "

"Simply denying a few words is not enough. Government departments should learn how to dispel rumors." Zeng Jizhi, a lawyer in Changsha, believes that due to the development of information dissemination tools, rumors and rumors are now spreading at an alarming rate. For rumourers, in order to stop the spread of rumors and dispel public doubts, we should try our best to provide more relevant information to the public when dispelling rumors, so as to make this important work more technical.

"Only when authoritative information is made public faster than rumors spread can rumors be contained in the shortest time." Once said.