Earthquake WARNING: Magnitude NINE tremor to hit by February 26 - shock claim

A MAJOR earthquake is on its way by February 26 and it could be compatible to the two BIGGEST tremors on record – one earthquake 'new-age forecaster' claims.

In 1960, the largest ever earthquake to ever strike hit Chile, coming in at 9.5 on the Richter scale, causing monumental damage which totalled more than £4.5billion ($6billion) in today’s money and tragically led to the deaths of around 1700 people. Just four years later, the second biggest earthquake hit Alaska, a 9.2 magnitude quake, in 1964. Thankfully, Alaska is much less populous than Chile, but it still claimed the loves of 131 people.

Now, one earthquake forecaster believes he has found similarities between the positioning of the planets now and in 1960 and 1964, meaning a similarly devastating quake could be on its way.

The forecaster in question, Frank Hoogerbeets who runs ‘New-age earthquake forecasting’ website Ditrianum, made the claims the gravitational pull from other celestial bodies is causing tension to build on our planet’s tectonic plates, which will eventually be unleashed.

Mr Hoogerbeets wrote on his website: “The Moon lines up with Mars while Mars is in an alignment with Mercury, the Sun and Jupiter. This geometry is similar to that at the time of the largest earthquakes on record in 1960 and 1964.

“A seismic increase as a result of this geometry depends entirely on the condition of Earth's crust, whether or not there is a fault line that has reached the limit of its strain budget.

“The specific geometry on the 24th could trigger larger seismic activity from the 24th to the 26th.”

Mr Hoogerbeets made the prediction using his Solar System Geometry Index (SSGI) which “is the computation of a dataset for a specific time-frame of values given to specific geometric positions of the planets, the Moon and the Sun”.

He added: “After three years of observations, it became clear that some planetary geometry in the Solar System clearly tends to cause a seismic increase, while other geometry does not.”

But experts have previously dismissed Mr Hoogerbeets’ claims, saying that there is no way earthquakes can be predicted.

The 1964 earthquake devastated Alaska (Image: GETTY)

However, experts have poured cold water on the planetary analysis.

John Bellini, a geophysicist at the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said: “We can't predict or forecast earthquakes.

"Sometimes before a large earthquake you'll have a foreshock or two, but we don't know they're foreshocks until the big one happens.”

By express.co.uk