Fake News: Did NASA warn India of a major earthquake?
Introduction
In March of 2018, a viral message was going around stating that NASA predicted a major earthquake for Delhi, India many weeks in advance. The article first went viral on an app called WhatsApp in India. It began warning nearby people of the earthquake that was going to happen. When the people of this town saw something like this come across their phone screen, they reacted to it like a natural disaster was going to come. After more research, we can conclude that not only is this story fake, but just how fast word can spread throughout social platforms.
Research Results
After doing some searching on google of the words “did nasa predict earthquake in Delhi”, it is very easy to figure out that this story is certainly not real. The first article that was presented was from Snopes.com, which had the whole article and where it was going viral. The story that went viral lacked the basic fact that Earthquakes can’t be predicted. A website called republicworld.com did some fact checking that lead to a statement that says “The ability to predict the exact time, place and magnitude of the earthquake is not possible even after having the latest technologies. Neither the USGS (the United States Geological Survey) nor any other scientists have ever been able to predict the exact time and location of the earthquake as of yet.” This could tell anyone that there is no way that NASA could have predicted this big of an earthquake. Though some people might say that they can predict earthquakes, Snopes.com states “Their predictions are so general that there will always be an earthquake that fits; such as, (a) There will be a M4 earthquake somewhere in the U.S. in the next 30 days. (b) There will be a M2 earthquake on the west coast of the U.S. today”.
Fake news has become a very normal thing in the modern world, and this is a story that will explain how out of hand fake news can get
. The fake news of this earthquake does not match up to how scientist do predict natural disasters like earthquakes. According to the republicworld.com the earthquake was predicted to be a 9.1 magnitude which would be the highest recorded earthquake in history.
Along with many sources saying that one can not predict an earthquake of that magnitude and timing, the video message that was going around was not in proper english. On snopes.com you can see the message that was sent around on the WhatsApp. Many words were not spelled out correctly and was very improper.
Conclusion
Social media and social sources can be great platforms to stay connected with the modern world. Throughout the years the social platforms have changed which has made fake news more present. Like the earthquake, it would be hard for someone to be calm in a situation and think about if the story is true or not. When it comes to learning about the news and modern day events, it is best for the person to do some research before believing everything that they see.
