Was the deadly Turkey and Syria earthquake predicted?

New Delhi, Feb 7: The death toll in Turkey and in neighboring Syria following powerful earthquakes on Monday rose to over 4,000. This came after Turkey and Syria were hit by three consecutive devastating earthquakes of magnitude 7.8, 7.6, and 6.0 on Monday that left the world in shock. But what caused this deadly earthquake or was it predicted?

 

Frank Hoogerbeets is reportedly a researcher working under a Solar System Geometry Survey (SSGEOS) organization that studies seismic activity tweeted on February 3. He had claimed that sooner or later there will be a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in the region around South-Central Turkiye, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

In his tweet, he also shared a map, marking areas that might get impacted. The Twitter post has gone viral now, leaving the netizens absolutely stunned.

In his bio on the social media giant, Hoogerbeets has written that he is a "researcher with the Solar System Geometry Survey, a research institute for monitoring geometry between celestial bodies related to seismic activity".

After Turkiye's earthquake, he tweeted that his 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," he wrote.

 

 

Initially, a magnitude 7.8 quake struck early Monday at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey's Gaziantep province near the Syrian border, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), the US Geological Survey said.

 

This was followed by a 7.5-magnitude quake around 130 kilometres north of Gaziantep, and with epicentre was in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province in Turkey diaccording to the US Geological Survey. Tremors were also felt in several neighboring countries, including Lebanon and Syria.

 

The third earthquake of magnitude 6.0 on the Richter scale hit Goksun, Turkey on Monday. The earthquake -- felt as far away as Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Egypt -- occurred in Kahramanmaras province, north of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border.

 

Officials and agencies confirmed that at least 4,372 deaths have been confirmed in Turkey and Syria and according to the World Health Organisaton (WHO) the toll could surpass 20,000. Turkey's toll rose to 2,921 as of Tuesday morning, according to Yunus Sezer, Turkey's head of disaster services.

 

A total of 15,834 injuries have been reported, Sezer said in a news conference in Ankara. Sezer said he would provide a more comprehensive update at 6 am local time (10 pm ET). In Syria, 1,451 deaths and 3,531 injuries have been reported by officials, reported CNN.

 

Apart from this,  India on Monday said that it will despatch rescue and medical teams to Turkey. The prime minister's office (PMO) said that a meeting was held and it was decided that the search and rescue teams of NDRF and medical teams along with relief materials would be dispatched immediately in coordination with the Government of the Republic of Turkiye.

Two teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), comprising 100 personnel with specially trained dog squads and necessary equipment, are ready to be flown to the earthquake-hit area for search and rescue operations, the PMO said in a statement.