Turkey earthquake: Days ago, ‘researcher’ predicted powerful temblor will hit region; his old tweet is viral now

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, February 6

As a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkey and Syria early Monday, a self-described researcher had a few days ago predicted that the region will be hit by a strong temblor.

“Sooner or later there will be a Rs M 7.5 #earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon). #deprem,” Frank Hoogerbeets had tweeted on February 3.

The tweet which is going viral now has left netizens shell-shocked.

Hoogerbeets’ twitter bio says he is a “researcher with the Solar System Geometry Survey, a research institute for monitoring geometry between celestial bodies related to seismic activity”.

He also describes himself one having “utmost respect for planets, especially Earth”.

The eerie coincidence does not end here. In a tweet after the powerful earthquake, Hoogerbeets said, “Aftershocks will continue in the region for some time, mostly 4-5 magnitude, but a stronger tremor is possible.” Southeastern Turkey did face a strong 7.6 magnitude quake after the first temblor that measured 7.8. An official confirmed it to be an independent earthquake.

In another tweet, Hoogerbeets said, “My heart goes out to everyone affected by the major earthquake in Central Turkey. As I stated earlier, sooner or later this would happen in this region, similar to the years 115 and 526. These earthquakes are always preceded by critical planetary geometry, as we had on 4-5 Feb.”

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