Keep earthquake rumors out of business communications

Distinguish business facts from earthquake claims

An agency may know that its email campaign is paused without knowing why a neighborhood lost connectivity or when conditions will change. Keep those categories separate. USGS's Earthquake Facts and Earthquake Fantasy resource addresses common misconceptions, but it does not turn a sales team into an earthquake forecasting service.

Do not forward predictions, screenshots or statements about building safety as part of client updates. Public safety instructions should come from the relevant authorities. Pakistan teams can link NDMA guidance while checking current local directions through official channels, rather than relying on reposted fragments.

Create a simple verification rule

Before publishing a claim, identify its source, scope and relevance to the customer. An internal observation may support 'our appointment system is unavailable'; it does not support 'all communications infrastructure is down.' If the broader statement is unnecessary, omit it rather than spending limited capacity investigating it.

Assign one person or small authorized group to approve external operational updates. This is a consistency control, not a prohibition on employees seeking personal help or accessing official information. Avoid requiring staff to debate rumors in public channels during a stressful disruption.

Use a claim-review worksheet

The example below converts an overbroad statement into a bounded service fact. Preserve enough context for the reviewer without reproducing sensational material in every team channel.

• Proposed claim: all local businesses will remain closed for a fixed period.
• Evidence: unverified forwarded message; unsuitable for publication.
• Business fact: the agency has not authorized its affected services to restart.
• Replacement: current service status and next operational review point only.
• Public guidance: link the relevant official authority rather than paraphrasing rumors.

Correct errors visibly and proportionately

If an unsupported claim was sent, correct it through the same business channel where practical. State what was wrong, provide the verified service position and remove any unsupported promise. Do not quietly edit a message if recipients may still rely on the earlier version.

Maintain a short correction log with the message owner and affected audiences. After the disruption, review how the claim entered the workflow and whether approval was unclear. Avoid turning the review into blame for employees under stress. The purpose is a reliable boundary: official sources for public earthquake guidance, verified internal records for agency operations, and explicit uncertainty where neither supports a conclusion.