An Iranian cleric's claim that showing skin causes earthquakes was almost proved to be true, after Taiwan experienced a temblor coinciding with women across the globe baring their breasts in defiance, a media report said on Tuesday.
Cleric Kazem Sedighi had said on April 12: "Many women who do not dress modestly... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes."
Over 200,000 women across the world, including from Iran, registered on a Facebook event called 'Boobquake' and vowed to bare their chests on Monday in defiance of the cleric's statement.
Coinciding with the event, a tremor, measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, hit Taiwan on Monday, though it caused relatively little damage. Buildings swayed briefly but none fell and there were no casualties.
But the "Boobquake" organiser, Jennifer McCreight, a student at Purdue University in Indiana, said the Taiwan quake does not count because it happened outside her time zone.
"On average, 134 magnitude 6-6.9 earthquakes occur annually. If we get many of a similar magnitude in the next 24 hours, we might start worshipping the power of immodesty," she wrote in her blog.
{{/usCountry}}"On average, 134 magnitude 6-6.9 earthquakes occur annually. If we get many of a similar magnitude in the next 24 hours, we might start worshipping the power of immodesty," she wrote in her blog.
{{/usCountry}}Sedighi's comments had prompted McCreight to say that she wanted to test his theory to see if cleavage really does possess seismic powers. She made a proposal, asking other female skeptics to join her in showing a little cleavage on Monday.