Dutch ‘Enthusiast’ Who Claims He Nearly Predicted Date of Nepal Earthquake Is Now Warning California: ‘I Hope I’m Wrong’

The Dutch man who claims he came within days of predicting the devastating earthquake in Nepal is now predicting that a 8.8+ magnitude earthquake will strike California on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.

In a YouTube video that is going viral, Frank Hoogerbeets warns the planets will align on May 28 and cause a massive earthquake on America’s west coast.

“I believe I know when exactly it is going to be. I hope I am wrong,” Hoogerbeets, an “enthusiast,” told KTXL-TV.

While Hoogerbeets is no scientist, he did reportedly predict a big earthquake on the same week an earthquake rocked Nepal and killed over 8,000 people, according to an unedited Facebook post on his page.

Watch the video below:

Regardless, Sacramento Office of Emergency Services spokeswoman Mary Jo Flynn told the news station they are “always prepared for an earthquake.”

Flynn said officials had not seen Hoogerbeets’ viral video.

As the Daily Mail notes, experts are not buying the man's theories:

Phil Plait of New Scientist wrote in his Slate column: 'I'm seeing some buzz on social media that a planetary alignment on 28 May will cause a huge magnitude 9.8 earthquake in California.

'Let me be clear: No it won't. It can't. Worse, there's not even an alignment on that date, at least not with the Earth. It's all baloney…It's literally impossible.'

Plait says that the maximum combined gravity of all the planets under the ideal conditions is still far less than the gravitational influence of the moon on the Earth.

---