The world could be hit with another major quake in the coming days, according to Dutch seismologist Frank Hoogerbeets, who rose to international prominence after predicting the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria last month.
Hoogerbeets, who bases his predictions on celestial body motions, posted a video on YouTube on Monday warning that “the first week of March is going to be extremely critical.”
“A convergence of critical planetary geometry around March 2 and 5 may result in large to very large seismic activity, possibly even a mega-thrust earthquake,” according to the clip’s description.
In the video itself, the seismologist claimed that the power of the supposed impending quake “may be well over 8 magnitude.”
According to Hoogerbeets, the affected area could span thousands of kilometers, from Russia’s Far East’s Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands all the way down to the Philippines and Indonesia.
“I’m not making this up. I’m not trying to instill fear in anyone. “This is a warning,” said the scientist from the Solar System Geometry Survey (SSGEOS).
The head of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey of Russia’s Academy of Sciences, Danila Chebrov, has questioned Hoogerbeets’ predictions and described him as a “amateur.
“The link between the movements of the planets in the solar system and seismic activity on Earth is rather weak, and using it as the primary prognostic tool is problematic,” Chebrov explained.
Hoogerbeets tweeted on February 3rd, “Sooner or later, there will be a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon).”
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria three days later. More than 50,000 people were killed in the disaster, and powerful aftershocks are still felt in the area today.
Hoogerbeets, a Dutch seismologist, has made predictions in the past that have not come true. Susan Hough of the US Geological Survey stated earlier this month that no scientist has “ever predicted a major earthquake.” Hough told NPR that the spot-on forecast for the quakes in Türkiye and Syria was just a coincidence. “It’s the stopped clock that’s right twice a day,” she explained.
