Nepal aid efforts hampered by rumours of aftershocks
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Rumours of aftershocks have been rippling through Kathmandu since Saturday's 7.8-magnitude earthquake, with some predicting an even larger quake to come.
One of the more far-fetched circulating by text message suggested the moon had been knocked upside-down, threatening more quakes to come and prompting authorities to issue a denial.
"Reports of the moon having turned upside down are completely false," said a statement issued by the Patna local government in north-eastern India.
"The moon is where is ought to be."
Nepalese authorities said some fear of aftershocks is legitimate, but the panic spread by exaggerated rumours poses a challenge.
Each evening, public parks and open spaces are swarmed with hundreds of thousands of people, drawn out of their homes by the rumours of a bigger and possibly more devastating earthquake, many sleeping under makeshift plastic or tarpaulin tents.
Many rumours are on social media, but most are spread by word of mouth, including one that NASA was predicting an 8-magnitude quake.
"To all the people who are spreading rumours of 9 richter scale earthquake coming. IT'S NOT FUNNY, plz stop scaring people, #NepalEarthquake" tweeted Pallavi Dhakal, a development worker from Kathmandu.
"I heard the next one would be a 15 Richter scale," said one young student who declined to give his name.
His friend, Kundan Lama, said the next quake would reportedly strike exactly 72 hours after the first one.
Phool Kumari Rai, 50, said he was taking such rumours seriously.
"I simply don't want to take any chances," she told dpa.
"Maybe it will not be true, but my heart says: What if it is? So I decided to stay out all night," she said from her makeshift tent in the city's Naxal area.
She had heard that another one was coming at 3 am on Wednesday.
So she decided not to sleep inside her family house on the fourth night after the quake, although her children and grandchildren did.
Ram Kumar Dahal, the head of disaster management at the Interior Ministry, said the rumours were becoming a problem.
"Now everyone is sleeping outside," even those whose houses are still standing, "because of the fear of an even more powerful aftershock," he said.
"Imagine most of the 4 million Kathmandu residents living in the open- this is why we do not know exactly how many people are actually displaced due to the quake," he said.
Dahal also said the panic was causing people to hoard basic amenities they don't yet need, taking away from the relief work for the current emergency.
"These people, who have houses and food, now want tents and water. No shops are open due to these rumours. The dependence on the government due to those who actually still have their own resources is creating this problem," he said.
The demand by panicked city-dwellers could further deprive those experiencing real shortages in quake-stricken remote villages, he said.
"The people of the city are not the real victims, except for those whose houses were destroyed, or lost their family members," he said.
Even senior government officials have asked Dahal for tarpaulins" because they are afraid to sleep in their rich houses."
"It's all because of these rumours. I had to scold them," he said.
"No one can predict the earthquake," said a public service announcement aired by prominent radio broadcaster Kantipur FM.
"Everywhere we go people are asking us about the next earthquake, as if we are experts on that," said Naresh KC, a police officer in the residential Baneshwor area of the capital.
Even some media have fallen for the rumours.
NepaliHeadlines.com ran the headline: "A bigger earthquake is yet to come, according to scientists," on Sunday, landing three editors in detention on charges of "spreading fear and terror," a police statement said Wednesday.
