Cantabrians ignore quake prediction

Ken Ring made a prediction of another big quake for Canterbury today, as did the person behind a massive leaflet drop in Christchurch. Photo / Jason Dorday

Quake-weary Canterbury residents are saying "prove it and I'll leave" following new predictions of a massive and fatal shake for the area today.

Christchurch police last week raised concerns over a leaflet deposited in city letterboxes that predicted a killer quake on September 28.

The document, which police said was alarming but not illegal, was delivered to houses in the suburbs of Parklands, North Shore, New Brighton, Bexley and Opawa.

The leaflet, which featured a strong religious element, predicted an off-shore earthquake for Christchurch for today, which would result in major flooding and loss of life.

Moon Man Ken Ring also warned that another big one will rock the area in the last week of September.

He said earlier this year: "The end of September is the next date for the next largest earthquake event in Christchurch, in my opinion." Online discussion forums have been alive with chat over the predictions.

One poster on Trade Me.co.nz stated: "There have been lots of threads started about it and I think people are just starting to get a bit wary."

But another one posted: "Take a photo of the wave then I will believe it. I am sick of date predictions and don't believe the little loopy religious lady. By now everyone in chch should have a survival kit, if your worried up grade yours to include a boat. No-one can see the future."

Another wrote: "This is like so yesterday's news. It's boring now."

Ring's predictions have sparked outrage and panic in the past after claiming to know earthquakes were coming in Christchurch through a study of the moon.

He was blamed for causing thousands of people to flee the city last time he published his quake predictions but denied any complicity in the exodus.