An Oregon man confirms that his company warned India that a new earthquake could bring more destruction across Asia.
An Indian government minister calls the warning "hogwash." He's blaming the consulting company for a panic that sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to higher ground.
Larry Park, who runs the company out of his home near Portland, stands by his warning. He still predicts there's "a good chance" of another quake coming, but says "a few days' window" until then.
Geologists in Oregon said they had not heard of Park or of his research, and are questioning its validity.
Park says he bases his research partly on what he describes as a huge supply of "ether" of the universe that he believes permeates everything and creates energy waves that aren't accounted for by current theories of physics.
After the warning was received, tens of thousands of people in southern India made a desperate run for higher ground. Police describe refugees fleeing relief camps, and jostling to get into trucks and other vehicles.
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APPHOTO XGO115 (12/30/04)>>
I: Volunteers, foreground, and residents run following a tsunami warning at Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004.
APPHOTO XSD110 (12/30/04)>>
I: Policemen, who are helping clean up the debris, run for safety as a warning for high waves caused by aftershocks is announced, at Pudukuppum village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Thursday Dec. 30, 2004.
