Panic at School or Ketakutan di Sekolah

Remember back in the 1990s when the internet was still a novelty, and people would believe as fact anything they read on the internet? Actually, that probably still happens more often than we would like to admit. Well, we're also still at that stage in Indonesia. Especially here in the city of Denpasar, an internet rumor can spread unbelievably fast through friends facebooking, emailing, and SMSing each other (facebook is the second most popular website in Indonesia right now).

A good example occurred last week. Apparently, the story was that an earthquake expert OR a Hindu holy man said that there would be a large earthquake in Denpasar at 1:00pm on a specific day last week. The whole city was talking about it... Schools closed early, some shops closed, some government workers left their offices early in order to avoid the damage. There was an overall sense of uneasiness. It wasn't until the next day that the newspapers confirmed what apparently not too many people knew: earthquakes can't be predicted with absolute certainty.