Dutch earthquake timekeeper Frank Hoogbaits has become a fixture after every earthquake, as some media outlets try to link his posts on his official social media pages to seismic events, as happened after the recent earthquake that hit Egypt yesterday.
Some media outlets interpreted his cryptic writings that preceded the Egyptian earthquake as confirmation of the validity of his theory linking the movement of celestial bodies to changes occurring in the tectonic plates on Earth that lead to earthquakes, which seems contrary to reality, as it was a practical confirmation that the man who mastered the game of "earthquake astrology," as experts call it, will always find someone to dress his writings in the garb of truth, even if they appear otherwise.
The real beginning of this game was when Hooghberts wrote on his Twitter account (now X) a few days before the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023: “Sooner or later, the East Anatolian Fault Zone will experience an earthquake.” The man became the talk of the world after the earthquake, even though what he said is worthless in the balance of science.
Scientifically, anyone who claims to be able to predict earthquakes must meet three conditions in their statement: first, it must include "date and time," then "location," and finally "earthquake strength."
Hooghbitts’ most famous prediction, which preceded the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, lacked the two most important elements, namely timing and strength, and was only served by chance by choosing a location that was already seismically active and expected to experience an earthquake at any time.
Although his posts prior to the Egypt earthquake lacked the three elements, he found people promoting them as a prediction of the earthquake, which greatly frustrated Dr. Sherif El-Hadi, head of the earthquakes department at the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, who was very disappointed by the belief of some in a statement that seems closer to "earthquake astrology" than to science. He told Al Jazeera Net: "Since the Turkey earthquake 3 years ago, we have been emphasizing, until our voices became hoarse, that what Frank Hogerbitz writes on his social media accounts is closer to earthquake astrology than to science, and dozens of earthquake events have supported our view, including the recent earthquake that Egypt witnessed, but his posts still attract the attention of many."
What did he say before the Egypt earthquake?
Days before the Egyptian earthquake, on July 30, Hooghwitz wrote that "after the high peak of lunar activity we saw yesterday, there is a global probability of an earthquake of magnitude 6 on the Richter scale, and possibly stronger, within the next two days."
The peak of lunar activity he refers to, and which he explained in a video he posted on his YouTube channel, is the formation of a “quadragonal geometry,” which includes the full moon in its full phase with the Earth, intersecting with the planets Mars and Saturn at sharp or critical geometric angles. This forms a peak in “electromagnetic/gravitational energy,” which may stimulate a strong earthquake, potentially exceeding 6 or 7 on the Richter scale, in one of the seismically active regions during the few days following this alignment.
After determining the magnitude of the earthquake, he identified the expected location of this tremor, adding, "It may occur in the Mediterranean Sea, perhaps at the small Aegean Sea plate."
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