Government has dispelled rumour making the rounds in Ghana that there is an impending earthquake expected to hit parts of the country.

Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, a deputy Minister of Information, told Joy FM’s Cyrus De-Graft Johnson on Monday dawn that the rumour was false.

“Government wants to assure the nation that it is just a rumour, that, there is going to be an earthquake.

“There is no iota of scientific evidence in that; somebody has just pulled a prank on the nation.

“It’s nothing but a wild rumour orchestrated and aimed at causing commotion and panic. It is not true, we have checked from all the official agencies,� he said.

The rumour started as early as Monday 10 p.m. via phone calls and text messages, and spread all over the country like a wildfire, compelling communities, in the capital Accra and rural areas, to camp at vantage points to avoid any calamities.

The rumour caught on fast with the backdrop of last Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake that has claimed over 50,000 lives in Haiti.

According to Mr Ablakwa, the government has been in contact with NASA, a US space agency and the BBC, which had been credited as the sources of the information “and they have all denied that they have put out such information�.

He stated that the National Security has been tasked to investigate the originator of this rumour, and appealed to Ghanaians “to go about their regular activities. This is just not true…they (the public) should stay calm and disbelieve all these rumours�.

Dr Emmanuel Amamoo-Otchere, former Executive Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Services (CERGIS) at the University of Ghana, Legon, has reiterated that even though it is good to take precautionary measures, people should not panic.

“There is a world network for earthquake news and I checked that source and I haven’t seen anything like that...I think some people are trying to raise a scare, which may not be true. I don’t think it is real.�

Dr Amamoo-Otchere, however noted that an earthquake with a heavy impact, such as the one in Haiti, are difficult to predict, but assured that even if anything would happen in Ghana, it would be a minor one.

Ghana last experienced earth tremor about one and half years ago.