Dutch researcher claimed 7-magnitude earthquake might hit Pakistan and surrounding regions

Lahore: (Web Desk) Social media is abuzz with the claims made by Dutch researcher Frank Hoogerbeets that a 7-magnitude earthquake might hit Pakistan and surrounding regions in the coming days.

According to the source, the researcher at Netherlands-based Solar System Geometry Survey (SSGEOS) had, three days before the devastating quake that has caused more than 10,000 deaths up till now in Turkiye and Syria, predicted the earthquake in a tweet shared by him.

As per details Monday’s earthquakes were felt in Egypt, Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, and Iraq. The epicenter of the first earthquake, which was also the biggest, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, was near the city of Gaziantep in southern Turkey. Thousands were killed in destruction brought about by this tremor that hit at 4.17 am (local time).

Furthermore noticing the popularity of the claims, the U.S. Geological Survey said no scientist had “ever predicted a major earthquake”. It’s the latest case of someone gaining attention for making “scattershot statements and predictions” that might seem to have been borne out, Susan Hough, a seismologist in the Earthquake Hazards Program at USGS said.

Moreover the scientific community believes that it is hard to predict earthquakes in advance as there is no reliable knowledge to do so. “An earthquake happens very, very quickly,” said Christine Goulet, director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Science Center. “It’s fair to say that at this point, we are not capable of predicting earthquakes at all.”

Meanwhile a UAE-based seismologist said “Since 1970, there were three earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 6.0 in the region, with the largest being 6.7. Now we see today’s quake at 7.4 magnitude. So you can expect a larger magnitude or it might not happen at all because usually this energy is released already during the time of the earthquake so it’s difficult to predict when the earthquake may happen”.