Thousands run to countryside after prediction by a self-styled seismologist that a devastating earthquake would annihilate the city The Internet-driven story of an impending tremor that will annihilate Rome has dominated blogs, social networks and talk shows for days, so much so that authorities from the mayor down have issued statements saying earthquakes are impossible to predict. That did not deter thousands of people from staying away from work and heading for the countryside or the parks. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2011/may/rome.jpg" border="5" /> Eternal City? Alarmed Italians are fleeing the capital after the quake rumour. Pic/AFP u00a0 According to some media reports, as many as 18 per cent of city employees called in sick and Rome's notorious traffic did appear lighter than normal for a Wednesday in May. One neighborhood that came down with a bad case of earthquake fever was Chinatown, where many shopkeepers kept stores shuttered and put up signs saying they were closed for weddings, inventories or "serious family problems." The predictoru00a0 The fear was caused by a faction of the followers of Raffaele Bendandi, who died in 1979 at age 86. The self-proclaimed scientist, who used a mix of seismology and cosmology and claimed to have forecast numerous earthquakes, calculated that a "big one" would hit Rome on May 11, 2011. The majority of Romans were skeptical and indeed by mid day the earth had not moved.u00a0 Fascist link Bendandi believed quakes were the result of combined movements of planets, the moon and the sun. In 1923 he forecast a quake would hit the central Adriatic region of the Marches on January 2 the following year. He was wrong by two days but nearly precise prediction won him the nickname "earthquake predictor" in the media. Bendandi's fame grew and in 1927 he was awarded a knighthood by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Thirsty beasts will now find water

Thousands run to countryside after prediction by a self-styled seismologist that a devastating earthquake would annihilate the city

Rome shakes at quake prophecy

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