Cognitive dissonance theory suggests people spread comforting rumors in low-damage areas and anxiety-increasing rumors in moderate-damage areas after disasters.

“and festinger scratched his head and said why in the world would people spread rumors that would increase their anxiety and what he arrived at as a strong possibility was that the earthquake made them feel extremely anxious but they had very little to be anxious about because hardly anyone got hurt and hardly any destruction occurred so they invented future things that were going to happen and spread rumors about them in order to justify their anxiety and that was the beginning of cognitive dissonance theory”