If you believe in people who can predict the future then you'll want to hear what happened in 1915 and today. In 1915, Bendandi predicted a huge earthquake would rock Rome on May 11, 2011. Bendandi was close, but no cigar, a huge earthquake rocked Spain today. Bendandi almost had a winning prediction.
May 10, 2011Rome trembles at earthquake prophecyROME (AFP) - Will Rome crumble on Wednesday? Thousands of alarmed Italians are fleeing the capital amid rumours that a seismologist predicted that a devastating earthquake will strike the Eternal City.
Scholars poring over the works of Raffaele Bendandi, who died in 1979, inferred that the self-taught seismologist had calculated that a massive earthquake would rock Rome on May 11, 2011, though the date is not explicitly written.
The president of the Bendandi Foundation tried to quash the rumour, saying: "I can say with complete certainty that in Bendandi's documents there is no trace of a prophecy about an earthquake in Rome on May 11, 2011."
That didn't stop Italians from panicking, notably because the controversial Bendandi is credited with having correctly predicted earthquakes during his lifetime on the basis of planetary alignments.
Police have been flooded with alarmed calls, and Rome's city hall decided to open a toll-free number "to calm the citizenry," an official said.
The flow of people to the outskirts of Rome has also spiked, according to Italy's main farmers association Coldiretti.
Across the capital, a noticeable number of shops are shuttered with notices citing vacation or illness, the ANSA news agency reported.
The scare comes just two years after a major earthquake hit the ancient city of L'Aquila, only around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Rome, killing 308 people.
To allay fears, Rome's Sapienza University is offering a conference on Wednesday titled: "Waiting for the Earthquake: Knowing About Earthquakes and Understanding Their Impact to Learn How to Protect Yourselves."
11 May 2011 Last updated at 15:45 ET
Deadly earthquake rocks Lorca in southern Spain
A bell from a church falls and narrowly misses a Spanish reporter
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake has toppled several buildings in southern Spain, near the town of Lorca, killing at least 10 people, officials say.
The quake struck at a depth of just 1km (0.6 miles), some 120km south-west of Alicante, at 1850 (1650 GMT), the US Geological Survey reported.
TV shots showed rescue workers rushing through debris-littered streets.
Old buildings were badly damaged by the quake, which followed a smaller 4.4-magnitude one about two hours earlier.
It is not clear how many people were injured, although Spanish media say there are dozens.
Spanish TV captured dramatic images of a church bell tower crashing to the ground, landing just metres from the cameraman.
Shocked residents and workers rushed out of buildings and gathered in squares, parks and open spaces. Lines of cars lay crushed under tonnes of rubble and a hospital was evacuated as a precaution.
A doctor told the online edition of El Pais that she and her colleagues went into the streets and treated people with serious injuries "many unconscious".
"The ambulances could not reach them. They took more than 40 minutes," she said.
The earthquakes were felt over a wide area.
"Unfortunately, we can confirm... deaths due to cave-ins and falling debris," Lorca Mayor Francisco Jodar told radio station Ser.
"We are trying to find out if there are people inside the collapsed houses," he added.
Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has deployed emergency military units to the scene, the Spanish EFE news agency reported.
Mr Zapatero was in a meeting with Spanish King Juan Carlos when he was informed of the quake, the premier's office said in a statement.
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Madrid says the quake is the most serious to hit Spain in 50 years.
Spain has hundreds of earthquakes every year but most of these are too small to be noticed. Murcia is the country's most seismically active area and suffered tremors in 2005 and 1999.
A number of aftershocks have been felt in the region after Wednesday's quake, and authorities fear the death toll could rise.
