Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Earthquake scare

"Get up, Get up." I was woken at 4:00am on Monday morning by my elderly and clearlydistressed landlady banging on my door. I decided to remain 'asleep' through her shouts, she has been known to lose her temper with people over fairly minor incidents. After hearing her bang on the doors of all the rooms on our floor I came to the conclusion there was either a serious problem, or she had lost it, either way I should probably get up.

After heading downstairs I found many of those who share our accommodation milling around the courtyard. The story was that an earthquake was imminent and we must get out onto the street away from any high buildings where we will be safe. It did appear strange that Ghana had such an efficient early warning system, but I didn't think it was worth taking any chances.

When we went out onto the street, the street was busy with people who had obviously heard the same rumour. After half an hour stood in the street it was discovered that this had been a false alarm, apparently the rumour had been spread by a new radio station called earthquake fm as a slightly unusual advertisement. Another story claims the rumour came from the university, apparently university students were stood out of their accommodation for 3 hours!

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