Reports from Fiji indicate a number of people took heed of a controversial warning by a Nadi-based pastor that the country would be struck by an earthquake and tsunami on June the 23rd.
Some workers left their jobs to go home because of the perceived threat on Wednesday local time.
Another pastor, Iliesa Takape of Suva's Kuriako Church of God in Christ, says at the time, he continued teaching children in the Church's school, but saw nearby workers respond to the warning.
Pastor Takape says the disaster warning was made by another pastor from his village in Nadi but he himself did not believe it.
"I can see some people now. I'm standing now I can see some people there, working people - I can see them walking back home now. That's what I can see from here, because I'm standing right in the centre of Suva and can see people there and how they're moving, eh."
Fiji authorities tried to squash the rumour but it's being reported many schools closed and people in outlaying areas sought higher ground and that social events, including funerals, were cancelled.
The pastor behind the warning, the Reverend Laione Lutumaimuri Nacevamaca, has been taken into custody along with the head of the Fiji Rugby Football Union, Bill Gavoka, for forwarding the email.
