Earthquake Hoax

An interesting thing occurred the other night. First, most
Ghanaians have never experienced an earthquake as far as I
can determine. Nevertheless, they are terrified of them,
thanks to the television coverage of the recent disaster in
Haiti. Tuesday at about midnight a radio station in the
capital city of Accra broadcast a warning of an imminent
earthquake in Ghana and told people to get out of their
houses immediately. This news spread throughout Ghana and by
3 AM much of the country was up and outside their homes. On
the coast thousands went to the beaches to wait for the
announced quake (which could have been a mistake had a large
quake occurred... psunami waves).

Karma and I received a phone call to vacate immediately. We
were told that a mobile sound truck was cruising the streets
warning people to get out of their homes as quickly as
possible. I would have stayed in bed except for the fact
that the four sister missionaries who live in the house
behind ours were outside and worried about us. We stayed up
for about a half hour and finally talked them into going
back into their house and to bed. Why am I not surprised by
all this? As we often say here in Ghana: "TIA." Translation:
"This is Africa."

--Elder Turner