Composition on Hengyang Earthquake Rumors
On the evening of February 11, 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, Hunan and surrounding areas, and many houses collapsed!" Starting from 8 o'clock last night, some posts about "an earthquake occurred in Anren" began to spread on the Internet, and were continuously called out through residents' phone calls spread. As the news continued to spread, the scope of influence became larger and larger. Residents in surrounding counties and cities who learned the news began to become restless and did not dare to go indoors to rest.
"Although the local government promptly refuted the "earthquake" rumors, the spread of the rumors far exceeded the speed of the government's refutation.
" Legal circles believe that Regarding rumors, how and when the government refutes them is crucial. For emergencies, the government must speed up its efforts to refute rumors.
"Earthquake" rumors spread wildly in southern Hunan
Last night, Changsha citizen Liu Ming was preparing to go to sleep after watching TV as usual. At this time, the mobile phone next to him suddenly rang.
"Did something happen if I called so late?" Liu Ming wondered. After answering the phone, Liu Ming heard his brother's anxious voice: "There was an earthquake in Anren County. Many houses collapsed. Now most residents in our county dare not sleep at home and all ran to the streets. What's going on over there in Changsha?" ? "
"Earthquake! ?" Liu Ming panicked. In order to learn more, Liu Ming immediately called the Hunan Provincial Seismological Bureau's duty telephone number, but the phone was always busy, so Liu Ming turned on his computer and searched for relevant information on the Internet.
“I didn’t see any news on the official website of the Hunan Provincial Seismological Bureau. Finally, I saw some posts from netizens on a forum on a certain website. Some netizens claimed that they were from Anren, and they were definitely from Anren. There was indeed an earthquake and the house collapsed; some netizens said it was not an earthquake, but an explosion at a large local fireworks factory. The shock wave of the explosion made local residents feel the earthquake." After reading these netizens' posts, Liu Ming became more and more uneasy: "Could it be that? Is there really an earthquake? ”
“I dare not sleep until I get the exact news.” Liu Ming’s family spent a sleepless night in panic due to his brother’s call and messages from netizens. .
The on-duty staff of the Hunan Provincial Seismological Bureau also confirmed to this reporter today that since 8 o'clock last night, the Provincial Seismological Bureau has continuously received calls from people reporting earthquakes in Yongxing and Anren of Chenzhou City and Hengxing in Hengyang City. Earthquakes occurred in Nanyang, Hengyang, Leiyang, Qidong and other places, causing house collapse. People in these areas are very panicked and dare not go indoors to rest. Local people working in Changsha, Guangzhou, Beijing and other places have called to inquire.
Rumors are outpacing the government’s refutation of them
“We have refuted the rumor that an earthquake occurred in Anren, which has been widely circulated on the Internet and among the people.” This morning, the staff on duty at the Anren County Government told reporters .
At 0:08 today, the Anren County Party Committee and County Government issued an emergency notice through the Anren News Network, saying, “In the evening of February 11, 2009, people in some towns and villages in our county reported that the glass in their houses was shaking. The phenomenon was suspected to be an earthquake. The county party committee and the county government promptly reported to the Provincial Seismological Bureau and the Municipal Seismological Office. The Provincial Seismological Bureau and the Municipal Seismological Office gave a clear response: There is no earthquake in the Anren area. Please rest assured, do not panic, and maintain normal conditions. production and life order, and ensure social stability."
According to Deng Dangxiong, secretary of the Anren County Party Committee, Anren County also used radio, television, mobile phone text messages and other channels to refute the rumors and ask everyone to stay calm. "As for the occurrence of abnormal phenomena such as shaking, relevant experts are further searching for the cause."
However, the speed at which "earthquake" rumors spread seems to exceed the speed at which the government can refute the rumors. That night, residents of Chaling and You counties in Zhuzhou City and some counties and cities in Hengyang City, which are close to Anren, heard rumors of "earthquakes." Some residents did not dare to sleep at home and walked out of their homes and onto the streets.
“The people’s panic is also related to the Wenchuan earthquake. Now everyone is shocked after hearing the earthquake.” Zhang Xiong, a resident of Chengguan Town, Chaling County, told reporters.
The government should learn how to refute rumors
According to the reporter’s understanding, yesterday’s sudden “Anren earthquake” incident also attracted great attention from the leaders of Hunan Province. At 9 o'clock this morning, Hunan Provincial Party Committee Secretary Zhang Chunxian urgently summoned Quan Dehui, director of the Hunan Provincial Seismological Bureau, to understand the situation. This morning, two deputy directors of the Hunan Provincial Seismological Bureau led teams to Chenzhou and Hengyang respectively to assist the local governments in their work.
“The inability to get official refutation of the rumors at the first time last night increased people’s panic to a certain extent.” Changsha citizen Tan Li said, “After hearing the rumors of the Anren earthquake, my My first reaction was to check with the Provincial Seismological Bureau, but I didn’t see any news about this on the official website of the Hunan Provincial Seismological Bureau.”
The reporter also noticed that it was not until nearly 12 o’clock this morning. , Hunan Provincial Seismological Bureau released two pieces of untrue news about the "Anren Earthquake" on its official website.
“Today, with the rapid development of the Internet, most citizens are accustomed to obtaining official information from the websites of government departments. If we encounter such emergencies in the future, if the Provincial Seismological Bureau can publish information as soon as possible to refute the rumors , maybe the rumors will collapse on their own," Tan Li suggested.
Wang Sanping, a resident of Anren County, told reporters on the phone: "Although the government department refuted the rumor today that no earthquake occurred, we urgently need to know what caused some houses to shake."
"A few words of simple denial will not solve the problem. Government departments should learn how to refute rumors." Changsha lawyer Zeng Jizhi believes that due to the development of information dissemination tools, rumors and hearsay spread at an alarming speed nowadays. For those who refute rumors, if they want to stop the spread of rumors and eliminate public doubts, they should try to provide the public with more relevant information when refuting rumors, so that the important work of refuting rumors has more technical content.
“Only when authoritative information is disclosed faster than the spread of rumors, will it be possible to contain the rumors in the shortest possible time.” Zeng Jizhi said.