New Delhi: Can earthquakes be predicted? The question is floating around on social media after an earthquake measuring 6.2 magnitude hit Nepal on Tuesday afternoon. Many other parts of North India also felt the tremors.
This comes just a few days after Dutch scientist Frank Hoogerbeets issued a strong warning about a massive earthquake that is likely to hit Pakistan’s Balochistan in the next 48 hours. Even though everyone on social media seems to be freaking out, the real question is can earthquakes be predicted?
This came out true’, tremors felt in Delhi just now. #earthquake https://t.co/JpnQ5mONwY
— ηᎥ†Ꭵղ (@nkk_123) October 3, 2023
Frank has a history of accurately predicting earthquakes. He also predicted a massive quake in Turkey in February just days before it struck and claimed thousands of lives, News18 reported.
After his prediction went viral, he responded to the earthquake, saying, “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.”
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), earthquake predictions are not supported by scientific evidence. This is because earthquakes are a natural phenomenon. The predictions are often generalised. If an earthquake occurs that somewhat matches someone’s prognosis, they claim success despite the fact that one or more of their predicted elements differed dramatically from what actually transpired, making it a failed prediction, the body states.
Predictions typically begin to circulate on social media when anything occurs that is believed to be a harbinger of an imminent earthquake. According to reports, the so-called precursor is typically a swarm of minor earthquakes, rising radon levels in surrounding water, increasing magnitudes in moderate-sized events, or a moderate-magnitude event that occurs infrequently enough to imply it may be a foreshock.
Unfortunately, the majority of such precursors frequently occur without being followed by an earthquake, therefore it is impossible to make an accurate prognosis. If there is a scientific basis, a probabilistic forecast may be made instead.
