July 22 tsunami, quake warning just a prank

By Emmanuelle Landais Staff Reporter
Published: June 28, 2009, 23:14

Dubai: Bathers and coastal residents need not worry about an e-mail that was circulated on the internet warning of a tsunami that would take place on July 22, 2009. It's a hoax.

Gulf News reader Fatima Lamya, received the e-mail forwarded to her by a cousin. "I was actually 99 per cent sure that this mail is fake. I was not scared. I got this mail from my cousin and I think he got this from his friend. Many fake news is spreading like this," she said.

The e-mail appears to come from someone sincere and caring.

"I just wanted to let you know that please stay away from the beaches all around in the month of July. There is a prediction that there will be another tsunami or earthquake hitting on 22 July 2009. It is also when there will be sun eclipse," reads the e-mail.

According to a forecaster at the Dubai Meteorological Office, predictions like this are totally unreliable as the weather cannot be forecast that far into the future.

"It sounds like a complete load of rubbish. You cannot predict so far ahead and tsunamis are not linked to sun eclipses," the forecaster said.

The e-mail states that Malaysia including Sabah and Sarawak, Singapore, Maldives, Australia, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines are going to be badly hit.

Several websites which serve to quash rumours and suppress urban legends have posted confirmations that the tsunami warning is a hoax.

Snopes.com concludes that scientists who have spent their whole lives studying earthquakes still cannot predict when and where one will hit. Snopes.com says the e-mail started circulating in April 2009 and has been taken from a blog.

Giant wave: Looking back

On December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia triggered a series of tsunami along the coast of most land masses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing more than 225,000 people in 11 countries.

The tremor, known as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, is the second largest earthquake ever recorded with a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3.

Rentap Libau

Rentap or Libau (died 1863) was a famous Dayak (Iban) warrior in Sarawak, Malaysia during the Brooke White Rajahs era in that state. "Rentap" in Iban means "Shaker of the world". He was known as "Raja Darat" or "Raja Ulu". Essentially, Rentap's rebellion was due to the White Rajah's or James Brooke's action of eliminating the Ibans in Skrang because he thought they were pirates. Being a leader of the Ibans there, Rentap took the subsequent action of attacking James Brooke's fort at Skrang River called Nanga Skrang. James' then burnt Rentap's village after he successfully drove James Brooke's side out of Skrang. He retreated to Bukit Sadok and built himself a fort after a defeat at Sungai Lang, Ulu Skrang by James Brooke in the year 1854. There he gained a reputation and thwarted many plans by James Brooke to control the Skrang and Saribas areas. Only after many attempts and with the aid of bigger cannons did James Brooke defeat Rentap in the year 1861. Though defeated, Rentap never officially surrendered. He retreated to Sungai Entabai and died in same place. In Malaysia, he is not only renowned in Sarawak, but he is also a national hero in both Sabah and the Peninsula as both a national hero and a freedom fighter.

A very good book about Rentap by James Ritchie

Another good book by Harry Usup Umbar

Hornbills Buceros in Borneo: Can they continue to co-exist?

Helmeted Buceros vigil and rhinoceros B. rhinoceros hornbills are large, conspicuous birds in the forests of northern Borneo. Both are of enormous importance in local culture, being the subject of legends, ceremonies and beliefs. Tail feathers of both species are used in traditional costumes and dancing. Both are also hunted for their meat. Changes in access, technology and rural lifestyles mean that hunting is causing populations to decline or become locally extinct. The birds breed slowly and occur at low natural densities. Thus, hunting levels must be extremely low to be sustainable. A single team of traditional dancers uses about 400 rhinoceros hornbill feathers, which involves killing 40 birds. To hunt these sustainably, and to re-supply new feathers every five years, about 205 km² of forest is needed. Hunting levels currently exceed this in almost all forests in northern Borneo. A series of measures is needed to ensure that these birds survive in Borneo's forests, and not just in legend and in the form of a few decaying artefacts.

Sex involve in Ngayap?

According to Padoch (1982:p92-3)

“The exact age of Iban at first sexual union is a topic difficult to explore, partially because of the usual reticence of women to discuss the subject, but mostly because of the impossibility of determining precise chronological ages. It is probable that among women in the Engkari region, courtship commences at about sixteen or seventeen years of age, while among men a somewhat later age, of eighteen or nineteen, is indicated. I have found no reason to assume that ages at which courtship begins in Bintulu are different. Whether there has been any change over time in the ages at which young Iban begin to court is uncertain. Several older women assured me that the age at first courting has declined, but there is no possible way of verifying this allegation”.

Gomes (1911)

“The mode of courtship among the Dyaks is peculiar. No courting goes on by day, but at night, when all is quiet, a young lover creeps to the side of the curtain of his lady-love, and awakes her. The girls sleep apart from their parents--sometimes in the same room, but more often in the loft. He presents her with a roll of sireh leaf, in which is wrapped the betel-nut ingredients the Dyaks love to chew. […] This nightly courtship is, in fact, the only way a man and woman can become acquainted with each other, for such a thing as privacy during the day is quite unknown in a Dyak house. If the girl be pleased with her lover, he remains with her until close upon daybreak, when he leaves with her some article as a pledge of his honour, such as a bead necklace, or ring, or a headkerchief, or anything else which he may have about him. This act of leaving some gift with the girl is considered as a betrothal between the two parties, and the man who refuses to marry the girl after doing so is considered guilty of breach of promise of marriage, and liable, according to Dyak law, to a fine”.

Komanyi (1973:p81-2): “An Iban girl may marry when she is fifteen or sixteen years old. Now, however, as educational opportunities improve, marriages tend to occur at a slightly later age, such as eighteen to twenty-two. A period of courtship, called ngajap , which is a uniquely Iban custom, precedes the betrothal”.

Padoch:

“The traditional Iban patterns of courtship (ngayap) , which involve nocturnal visiting of women by men, are a topic mentioned frequently by earlier writers (Roth 1896,I:109-11), among whom there is disagreement on the frequency or occurrence of sexual intercourse during the visiting. A more recent account of the practice (Beavitt 1967), and all informants I encountered, concurred that sexual relations take place often, although not always. It is reported that ngayap is now being replaced among someIban groups, particularly those converted to Christianity, by other forms of courtship not involving sexual union (Beavitt 1967:p409-10). However, the traditional form prevailed in all the communities that were studied during the period of field research”.

“... when a girl reaches maturity, and if there is a suitor, her parents will arrange for her to settle down. Normally, an Iban girl marries when she is seventeen years of age. When a girl attains her spinsterhood, her mother teaches her the ways employed to protect herself. She must be taught to behave and speak courteously to boys who court her at night. She is aware that it has been a tradition for a boy to court a girl. However, the question of getting her to offer herself to the boy depends very much on the girl herself, because he cannot force her to give consent unless they love each other through his kindness and winning ways. These are secretly explained to her by her mother. The mother also emphasises the methods in which her daughter can judge whether or not the boy is sincere enough to marry her”