"THE PROPHECY" People who live in California have every reason to be afraid of earthquakes. No one has ever forgotten the great quake that destroyed San Francisco in 1906. In May, 1988, the people of Los Angeles panicked. According to a prophecy made in the 16th century by a prophet called Nostradamus, the city would be destroyed early in 1988. During the panic, parents didn't send their children to school and people didnt go to work. No one stayed at home, either. The airlines did great business carrying people who fled from their "doomed city". Which is more puzzling: how Nostradamus knew that a city which didn't even exist in his time would be destroyed in the 20th century, or the behavior of the people who believed "the prophecy"? 1. How did the people of Los Angeles flee from their doomed city?