Hoogerbeets claims that earthquakes are caused by the positions of Jupiter, Mars and other planets. Experts, on the other hand, believe that such a thing is not possible.
Frank Hoogerbeets, who allegedly predicted the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş a few days in advance, has stirred Egypt with his new statements.
In a new video released yesterday (February 12), Hoogerbeets made predictions about the possibility of Turkey’s neighboring countries facing a major earthquake.
Claiming that there has been a change in the pressure distribution across the region in recent days following the Maraş earthquakes, Hoogerbeets argued that there could be a major earthquake in Lebanon or Egypt:
“People ask me if there will be a big earthquake in Lebanon or even Egypt. Because if we look at the history of these countries, they have been subject to major seismic activity.”
While Hoogerbeets’ remarks raised fears of earthquakes in neighboring countries, an Egyptian scientist stressed that such an event cannot be predicted.
Dr. Sharif El-Hadi, head of the earthquake department at Egypt’s National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research, responded to Hoogerbeets’ statements, saying there is no scientific evidence that an earthquake will happen in Egypt soon.
“There are no tools in the world that can predict earthquakes,” El-Hadi said, adding, “These are words without scientific evidence.
The scientist added that Egypt is far from earthquake zones and that earthquakes as severe as those in Turkey are unlikely to occur.
Two major earthquakes in the Pazarcık and Elbistan districts of Kahramanmaraş on Monday, February 6, were felt in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus and Iraq.
Earthquake prediction from planetary alignments
Hoogerbeets, who makes earthquake predictions based on the alignment of the planets, constantly warns about different locations around the world. He usually expresses these warnings in the videos he publishes on his YouTube channel or in his posts on Twitter.
When earthquakes occurred in some of these regions, Hoogerbeets quickly climbed up the agenda of the press and social media and became known as the “earthquake oracle”.
With thousands of followers on his YouTube channel and regular updates to his website, it gives the impression that the Dutch forecaster is a real seismologist.
However, according to experts, Hoogerbeets’ occupation has nothing to do with these disciplines. Moreover, Hoogerbeets himself has admitted that he does not hold any academic title and has described himself as an “earthquake enthusiast”.
Hoogerbeets argues that planets like Mars and Venus are behind the tremors.
For example, according to Hoogerbeets, the 7.5-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Palu Bay on Sulawesi Island in Indonesia on September 28, 2018 was caused by the gravitational force exerted by Venus, Uranus, Neptune and Mars on Earth.
In the said earthquake, Donggala, Palu, Sigi regions were affected and 4 thousand 340 people lost their lives.
Do the Moon and other celestial bodies affect earthquakes?
For many years, astronomers have debated whether the tides created by the Moon in the oceans affect earthquakes. But these debates were largely inconclusive.
US geophysicist Andrew Michael said, “Even finding a small effect requires statistical analysis of large data sets. Even when this was done, the results remained controversial,” says US geophysicist Andrew Michael:
“So overall, the Moon does not have a large enough effect on earthquakes to be used for prediction.”
According to the geophysicist, even the influence of the Moon, the closest celestial body to Earth, is controversial, while more distant planets are unlikely to influence earthquakes on Earth.
“Let’s consider Jupiter’s closest position to Earth. The planet’s gravitational pull at this position is only 1 percent of that of the Moon. Venus follows with 0.6 percent. The others have even less,” Michael said:
“If we can barely observe the Moon’s influence on earthquakes, it’s inconceivable that other planets do.”
