Submitted by Yemisi Akinbobola on Fri, 15/07/2011 - 1:41pm

Needless to say, the BBM (Blackberry Messenger) warning was a hoax.

Many concerned citizens of Lagos contacted IQ4News asking if they should warn their loved ones.

"It's important for you to know that some radio stations in Nigeria are already carrying the news of the Tsunami," writes a concerned IQ4News reader on our Blackberry Group.

The hoax alert broadcasted said:

"Just got this now, 16:40 today 14/07/11 on Al-Jazeera network.....Lord help us! NASA reports tsunami alert on the west African coast (gulf of guinea) following a quake offshore Malabo (equatorial guinea). 20 meter high tides reported heading towards the coast of Lagos, Lome and Accra".

We spoke to senior risk meteorologist of the British Weather Services, Jim Deale, about Tsunami alerts and the time it takes for a Tsunami to hit after the alert.

"If there is an earthquake on the ocean bed close to land, then there will be no time for a warning because the Tsunami would likely hit within the hour", said Mr Deale.

"If the earthquake happened on the ocean sea bed as far off as America, before the Tsuanmi hits the west coast of Africa, you would get about 2 to 3 hours".

The hoax alert was reported yesterday, based on our expert meteorologist's analysis, the Tsunami should have hit by now.

Hoax messages sent via Blackberry have become increasing common in Nigeria.

Earlier this year, Nelson Mandela was reported to have died, this too turned out to be a hoax!

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