Woman detained for allegedly spreading quake hoax in east China

Woman detained for allegedly spreading quake hoax in east China

NANJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Police in an east China city havedetained a young woman who allegedly spread hoax warnings of animminent earthquake.

The woman was charged with disturbing public order, said aspokesperson of the municipal security bureau of Nanjing, capitalof Jiangsu Province,Tuesday.

On Sunday night, police found an Internet posting that said,"There will be a major earthquake in Nanjing City in the nearfuture, we should be prepared for it."

After an investigation, they identified the woman who allegedlyposted the hoax warning and detained her at about 9 p.m. Monday.

The woman surnamed Ding, aged 25, ran a fashionable photographycenter in the city, said the spokesperson.

Ding allegedly said that at around 7 p.m. Sunday, she saw aposting on her friend's private online space with the title of"Experts forecast Nanjing will be jolted by earthquake."

Ding allegedly told police that the posting reminded her of thehorrible scenes in the Hollywood blockbuster 2012, the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit Yushu prefecture of Qinghai ProvinceApril 14 and of recent abnormal weather in Nanjing.

Out of fear, she relayed the posting to a leading Chinese socialnetwork website named Xicihutong, and the posting quickly foundpublic attention, said the spokesperson.

Only when people pointed out untrue information in the postingdid Ding realize it was a hoax.

The police traced the rumour to a recent online posting about apossible quake in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The postingDing relayed was a copy of the "Shaanxi quake" posting, said thespokesperson.

Ding would remain in custody for at least three days, thespokesperson said.