A Dutch researcher accurately predicted Monday’s Turkey-Syria earthquake, three days before it happened.
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In a tweet sent on Friday, researcher at the Netherlands-based Solar System Geometry Survey (SSGEOS) Frank Hoogerbeets tweeted: “Sooner or later there will be a ~M 7.5 #earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon).”
Hoogerbeets’ tweet came exactly three days before the natural disaster struck Turkey and Syria, in which he also referred to other countries that felt the jolts of the earthquake.
He predicted that the earthquake would occur with a magnitude of 7.5 in the region.
At least 1,000 people were killed in Turkey, the epicenter of the catastrophe, according to the head of the country’s disaster agency.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake knocked down multiple buildings in southeast Turkey and Syria. In Syria alone, at least 230 died and more than 600 were injured.
The quake was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon. It was followed in the early afternoon by another larger earthquake, magnitude 7.7.
Hours after the early morning earthquake which killed thousands, another one hit southeast Turkey at 1:24 PM local time at a magnitude of 7.5, the US Geological Survey said.
Syrian state media also reported that an earthquake had hit the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday.
Residents in the Iraqi provinces of Dohuk and Mosul and the Kurdish capital Erbil reported feeling a light tremor, state media said, following the earthquake in Syria.
Read more:
Major earthquake in Turkey kills at least 1,014, over 5,000 injured
Top 5 most devastating earthquakes: From Sichuan to Haiti, latest in Turkey and Syria
Another 7.5-magnitude earthquake hits southeast Turkey, felt in Lebanon
