A Dutch researcher, Frank Hoogerbeets, last Friday predicted an earthquake will occur in Turkey and Syria.

“Sooner or later there will be a ~M 7.5 #earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon),” he tweeted last Friday.

Mr Hoogerbeets’ tweet came three days before the earthquake which killed 2,300 people and counting.

The quake fell several buildings killing at least 1,541 and leaving 9,733 injured in Turkey and 810 dead in Syria.

The researcher on Monday sympathised with the victims of the earthquake.

“My heart goes out to everyone affected by the major earthquake in Central Turkey. As I stated earlier, sooner or later this would happen in this region, similar to the years 115 and 526. These earthquakes are always preceded by critical planetary geometry, as we had on 4-5 February,” he tweeted.

He urged residents to be on the watch for additional strong seismic activity in Central Turkey and nearby regions noting that aftershocks usually continue for a while after a major earthquake.