Durban tsunami warning texts a hoax

Durban Weather Office’s Wisani Maluleke says their lines have also been busy, with callers wanting to know if the report is true or not.

He says it is not.

“We have been receiving a lot of calls concerning this tsunami warning. With South African Weather Services, we deal mainly with weather-related warnings of which we have not sent any warnings. Even I have tried to check if there is an earthquake or tsunami warnings but there is no such warning issued from anywhere else,” he told East Coast Radio.

The message being circulated, which the weather service says is unfounded, reads:

Hey everyone, this was just released from the south african national government of climates its been confirmed that approximately 18h00 gmt there going to be a magnitude of a tsunami waves hitting the coast line of Durban followed by hitting the wild coast Port Shepstone stretching far has port St Johns so everyone around these areas please be on high alert waves are expected to be high has 9 meters high and stretching far out shore beaches are currently being closed please take note emergency services are currently all over Durban trying to alert people the time set frame this tsunami alert has been sent out late so if u know of any friends or family at beaches please spread the word let everyone know the indian ocean will be very rough and dangerous and authority’s my might make it in time to all beaches to alert people so re-broadcast its expected to be worst than the tsunami that happened in Thailand may God be with everyone at this moment.