According to recent estimates, the earthquake that hit China on Monday could leave 10,000 people dead. Web users are saying that the catastrophe could have been avoided, if only they had listened to the toads.
Two days before the quake thousands of toads suddenly decided to move across a bridge in Taizhou, a town in the Jiangsu province (see photos). Chinese web users are wondering why the local authorities didn't relate the event to the imminence of an earthquake, and why scientists didn't take notice of the bizarre disappearance of a lake in Enshi, in the Hubei province, on April 26 (see photos).
A seismologist tells us that the Chinese have long relied on the behaviour of animals to predict earthquakes. Although there's no scientific study to back up the farmers' claims, the idea that toads sensed the earthquake should not be ruled out.
Pascal Bernard is a researcher in a team of seismologists at the Jussieu University in Paris.
Although
it's difficult to prove that toads "predicted" the quake, it's certainly not
impossible. We know that animals sense pre-earthquake micro-tremors, and react
to underground water movements, or even changes in the composition of the air.
It's just that these theories haven't been scientifically proven yet.
China has a long tradition of seismology studies based particularly on looking at the behaviour of rats, snakes, toads etc. The idea was very fashionable in the 70s [when scientific researchers were ousted in the cultural revolution]. Farmers very carefully noted down all the different kinds of behaviour of animals in the hope of predicting natural catastrophes. But in my experience it never really worked. In 1975, villagers did manage to predict an earthquake and avoid catastrophe. But it was because they felt the mini-tremors, not because of something they noticed in the animals."
Comments
surely in this day and ae
Submitted by Labradoodle (not verified) on Sat, 31/05/2008 - 21:49.surely in this day and ae they have ways to detect these things anyway? just doesnt sem right that all those people died without knowing anything at all.
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True Enough
Submitted by Meditation (not verified) on Thu, 29/05/2008 - 13:24.Meditation is a great way to connect with your spirituality. Not only that but we can actually heal our mind and body through meditation.
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meditation is crap
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Sun, 22/06/2008 - 02:53.meditation is crapola. it is the worst thing ever. they made us do it at school and it sucked. so that mans your comment sucked.
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The cows in San Francisco...
Submitted by ethiograndma (not verified) on Sun, 25/05/2008 - 23:48.Prior to the GREAT EARTHQUAKE early last century in San Francisco the cows were seen running across town...
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My dog barks
Submitted by Barky the dog (not verified) on Thu, 22/05/2008 - 19:50.When my dog barks at nothing, does this mean I should go on vacation?
No, my dog is very old and he is half blind and fully deaf. Animals do strange things all the time. So if you are planning on reacting to every weird thing a dog, cat, toad, bird or whale does, I hope you got a lot of air miles!
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Remember the tsunami in
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Wed, 28/05/2008 - 01:23.Remember the tsunami in Thailand, all the elephants, birds and forest animals running off 2 hours before the wave. As a result 5000 people died in this country, and 0 animals...and those pets got no air miles!
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Good point, but Taizhou is
Submitted by Taojas (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 07:38.Good point, but Taizhou is in Jiangsu province, a long way from the epicentre at Wenquan in Sichuan. Same with the pond in Hubei.Maybe the toads sensed something, maybe not - but the point is moot as nobody could have used this information to accurately predict the exact location or time of the impending earthquake.
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I felt the quake before it happened.
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 00:15.This is not the first quake I have sensed before it has happened, so I associated that feeling with this one.
I told my son the day before that I felt a big earthquake was to happen in China or Peru.
Perhaps Peru is next.
I told him this is not good, and that I hope I'm wrong, because Lots of peolple will die.
Perhaps my involvement in martial arts and meditation has given me some form of hightened sense.
God Bless all that need help.
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Perhaps...
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 18:38....or perhaps you are just a ridiculous Jedi-wanna-be? And yes, I DO want fries with that.
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There is always going to be
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Fri, 23/05/2008 - 18:16.There is always going to be someone like you. Apathetic, sarcastic and hella ignorant. You see, people like you like to live life so simple. You embody the essence of simplistic features, you define the word "simple" to describe a large group of people. I think you are sadder than what has happened to Myanmar and China put together.. hey, that says something! ... You're pathetic!
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Why be an asshole? It's a
Submitted by dee (not verified) on Fri, 23/05/2008 - 14:15.Why be an [deleted]? It's a choice, you know. Crazy isn't always.
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The Earthquake was Triggered Technologically
Submitted by messenger (not verified) on Mon, 19/05/2008 - 22:33.The Earthquake was Triggered Technologically, possibly as an act of war or just as a test, by the HAARP antennae array in Alaska or some similar technology. Do your homework and look into the bizarre cloud formations that were noted before the quake. Here are some links to get you started
http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=6882
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19826514.600-curious...
Please look into everything and do not presume there must only be a mundane explanation
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WOW...
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 18:43.I mean... wow... do you really....? WOW!
Any fool knows that it was caused by Captain Neemo's giant journey-to-the-center-of-the-earth-type drilling ship/machine, that dug to deep...to deep... and now... now we shall all suffer the wrath of the Balgrog... or by terrorists all jumping up and down at the same time...either way.
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Open your mind like your empty field.
Submitted by apollo (not verified) on Mon, 19/05/2008 - 08:20.Its very simple, during an earthquake, the best trick to surviving is getting the heck out of whatever structure you are in, and scurry your way to an open field. Your death is caused by heavy debris, crushing your life away.
You do not die from the physical act of an earthquake rumble.
Its a scientific fact that animals of all types, hear and see different spectrum's than humans. The fact remains that these spectral forces were deep within the earth, kilometers deep. Frogs bury themselves, snakes bury themselves.
They were being agitated by the steady clicking and ever growing rapid pressure waves eminating from below their burrows. Thus, fearing for their life.
Their "escape for you life" biological mechanism was activated by these subterrainian clicks and squibs.
Earthquakes are caused by metric tons of falling rocks, and millions of gallons of falling liquids underground. Taught to us as "tectonic plates" shifting. The animals heard these falling rocks, and falling waters deep underground.
It startled them like a firecracker blowing up at 3am while fully alseep.
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Re: Predictions
Submitted by Raw (not verified) on Sun, 18/05/2008 - 17:46.According to several sources, there were predictions made that an earthquake was going to strike. But only some people took it seriously.
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OMG
Submitted by Doc Dentine (not verified) on Sun, 18/05/2008 - 16:26.Look at what the earthquake did to the fisherman's teeth!
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I had and eerie psychic
Submitted by deluded (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 18:33.I had and eerie psychic premonition in my testes before the quake that this man's teeth would be ruined.
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stupid American.
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Fri, 23/05/2008 - 18:18.stupid American.
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LOL!
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Wed, 21/05/2008 - 01:36.LOL that was funny
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Thanks for the laugh.
Submitted by LOLROFL (not verified) on Mon, 19/05/2008 - 05:50.That comment was too funny.
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My point is, no one needs to
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Sun, 18/05/2008 - 05:39.My point is, no one needs to prove or disprove that whether animals are capable of predicting earthquake...whenever you see unusual behaviour of such magnitude, what's the problem in being a little bit cautious and staying away from home for the following 2/3 days just in case? Which hurts more? being ridiculed or losing limbs? (if you are lucky enough to survive)
If you prefer to rely on science, your next 2 generations might be the victim before scientists will find that indeed animals can predict earthquake after 100 years of reserach and declare that early sicentists were wrong about it!
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If this picture of all these
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Sun, 18/05/2008 - 04:35.If this picture of all these toads happened in China, then how come there isn't anyone collecting them for dinner? LOL
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eat frogs not toads ;)
Submitted by small panda (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 12:06.eat frogs not toads ;)
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for my mind , the excess
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Sun, 18/05/2008 - 11:58.for my mind , the excess 7.0-magnitude erathquake could be forecasted
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Well that says a lot about
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Wed, 21/05/2008 - 15:49.Well that says a lot about your mind now doesn't it?
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Toad Prophecy
Submitted by Moneyman (not verified) on Sat, 17/05/2008 - 08:23.The toads knew the earth was emitting precursor electrical waves and were reacting.
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Earthquake predictors
Submitted by Peter (not verified) on Sat, 17/05/2008 - 20:35.How slow do toads move? By the time we see them, it would be too late because there is no time to get far enough away from the earthquake. They were simply reacting to the mini tremors and we have nothing to fear of mini tremors. It is the big 7.8 magnitude earthquakes that we fear. There are still no way to scientifically predict a catastrophe as I know. So I'll have to trust my insticts.
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Frogs not toads
Submitted by Dreams N Chains (not verified) on Sat, 17/05/2008 - 07:26.They look like frogs, not toads and they are probably seeking water which was drained into the earth. I mean... where does a toad or frog think they are going evacuate to? An airport? LoL! Definitely not a bridge! The article states catastrophe could have been avoided... an earthquake cannot be avoided... the death toll would possibly not be so bad though. However, I do believe animals and people can be sensitive to such things.
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Plasma
Submitted by Shomedo (not verified) on Fri, 16/05/2008 - 06:02.Electrical activity/ ionic change and such are far greater predictors of earthquakes than erratic animal behavior.
See www.plasmarescource.com
time to understand.
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Animal Behavior Predicting Earthquakes
Submitted by Samantha (not verified) on Mon, 19/05/2008 - 00:04."Electrical activity/ ionic change and such are far greater predictors of earthquakes than erratic animal behavior".
There is no such thing as "erratic animal behavior". It's just that humans do not understand it. Animals are much more in tune with nature than humans are. Before the cyclone in Myanmar, a certain species of birds headed for high ground.
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