{"id":4534,"date":"2025-04-24T22:48:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T22:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/tiktok-astrologer-arrested-for-predicting-another-powerful-earthquake-in-myanmar-spreading-panic\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T22:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T22:48:16","slug":"tiktok-astrologer-arrested-for-predicting-another-powerful-earthquake-in-myanmar-spreading-panic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/tiktok-astrologer-arrested-for-predicting-another-powerful-earthquake-in-myanmar-spreading-panic\/","title":{"rendered":"TikTok astrologer arrested for predicting another powerful earthquake in Myanmar, spreading panic"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Myanmar authorities have arrested a TikTok astrologer for spreading panic by predicting another strong earthquake in the aftermath of last month’s tremor<\/a><\/span>, state media said Thursday.<\/p>\n

John Moe The, who has a TikTok following of more than 300,000, forecast on April 9 that a “very strong” quake would hit “every city in Myanmar” in 12 days’ time.<\/p>\n

“People should not stay in tall buildings during the day,” said the caption on his video viewed 3.3 million times.<\/p>\n

“Take important things with you and run away from buildings during the shaking.”<\/p>\n

Last month’s earthquake<\/a><\/span> in Myanmar’s central belt killed more than 3,700 and has left 60,000 living in tent encampments, according to the UN, many too fearful to return home as aftershocks continue.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old John Moe The was arrested in a morning raid on his home in central Monywa city on Tuesday, according to a statement by Myanmar’s military government published in state media on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“We got a tip-off about fake news being spread through a TikTok account that a severe earthquake will hit,” said the statement.<\/p>\n

“Action will be taken effectively against him according to the law. Likewise, we will also take action effectively against those who write or spread or share fake news.”<\/p>\n

Yangon resident Nan Nan told AFP she had not believed the social media post, but many neighbors had.<\/p>\n

“Most of my neighbors dared not to stay in their apartments and lived out on the street on that day,” the 35-year-old said. “My friend even hired a small house outside Yangon in preparation.”<\/p>\n

John Moe The’s TikTok account is titled “John (Palmistry)” and issues regular text predictions against the backdrop of a swirling cosmos.<\/p>\n

His forecasts included other weather disasters, the release of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi<\/a> who was deposed in the country’s 2021 coup, and American airstrikes on Myanmar’s soil.<\/p>\n

Earthquake early warning systems do exist \u2014 sensing the jolt and beaming out a signal faster than the speed of the shockwave.<\/p>\n

However, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) says predicting tremors ahead of time is scientifically impossible.<\/p>\n

“Neither the USGS nor any other scientists have ever predicted a major earthquake,” says a statement on their website.<\/p>\n

“We do not know how, and we do not expect to know how any time in the foreseeable future.”<\/p>\n

Getting help to those in need in Myanmar has proved difficult in a country where key infrastructure was badly damaged and where a civil war<\/a><\/span> had already been raging before the 7.7 magnitude quake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In neighboring Thailand, the quake was felt strongly in capital Bangkok, but only one large building completely collapsed. Thai authorities have\u00a0ordered an investigation<\/a><\/span>\u00a0into that isolated collapse to determine whether it could have been due to inadequate building materials, design flaws or a failure in the inspections process.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n