Soon after disaster struck the Turkey-Syria region on Monday, a tweet by a Dutch researcher, who apparently predicted the earthquakes, went viral. Turkey (Turkiye) and Syria, which are located the Anatolian tectonic plate, saw one of the highest death counts after three earthquakes and over 80 aftershocks hit the region within 18 hours, claiming over 2,300 lives.
The Anatolian plate is prone to earthquakes as the Eurasian and African tectonic plates exert pressure on it from the north and south while the minor Arabian plate presses from the east. Tectonic plates are massive pieces of the Earth’s crust, the uppermost layer of the planet. Most earthquakes are caused by the movement of these plates. On Monday, the Arabian plate moving northwards and grinding against the Anatolian plate created extreme pressure, resulting in the massive earthquakes.
ALSO READ | Third Earthquake Strikes Turkey And Syria As Death Toll Rises Over 2,000
Monday’s earthquakes were felt in Egypt, Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, and Iraq. The epicentre of the first earthquake, which was also the biggest, measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale, was near the city of Gaziantep in southern Turkiye. Thousands were killed in destruction brought about by this tremor that hit at 4.17 am (local time).
Now, a ‘prediction’ by a Dutch researcher named Frank Hoogerbeets is being shared widely. Reason? Apparently, Hoogerbeets, who works for an organisation in his country called Solar System Geometry Survey (SSGS) had foretold the earthquake just three days ago. “Sooner or later there will be a ~M 7.5 earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon),” Hoogerbeets had tweeted on February 3.
SSGS describes itself as a “research institute for monitoring geometry between celestial bodies related to seismic activity” on Twitter.
After Hoogerbeets’s tweet on the ‘prediction’ went viral on Monday, he tweeted: “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.”
Another expert in mining geology, earth sciences, and earthquakes Serkan Içelli was quoted by Turkish news outlet The Daily Sabah in December 2022 as saying that a massive earthquake, the “big one”, would occur in the Marmara region, which is home to Turkiye’s most populous city — Istanbul. Marmara is located around 1100 km to the west of Gaziantep. Içelli on December 24 dedicated a Twitter thread to explain his theory.
However, he had said that the magnitude of the quake will not be more than 7. “Of course, there will be an earthquake in Marmara, but it will not exceed the magnitude of 7.0. Because Istanbul has never witnessed such a big earthquake throughout history… According to the calculations I made, the 1963 and 1999 series of earthquakes in Gölcük has relieved the stress in Marmara quite a bit. Hence, it is not possible for an earthquake over 5.8 to 6.2 in the Marmara Sea,” The Daily Sabah quoted Serkan Içelli.
“The Aegean region is a very complex place for us. Unfortunately, we do not follow that region very well. Especially the area under the island of Crete, called the Hellenic Arc, is dangerously prone to earthquakes. This region has previously produced earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.0 and is now causing the biggest earthquakes. In terms of our country, a tsunami may occur in parts of Muğla,” he had sought to explain.
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