Babollah Abedinzadeh is a not very well-known man from the Iranian city of Semnan who claims he can predict an earthquake 48 hours before it occurs.
Here is IFP’s translation of a report by Khabar Online on a claim made by the Semnani man who says he can forecast the occurrence of any earthquake on earth from distance.
Abedinzadeh said, “Although no one in Iran takes my words seriously, I predicted the earthquake that recently struck Pakistan 48 hours before its occurrence. I even predicted the earthquake that hit Iran’ East Azarbaijan and informed the authorities in Semnan.”
He has allegedly spent 12 years of his life on doing research about earthquakes and methods of predicting them. He said he is ready to prove his claims; however, officials at Iran’s Seismological Centre have asked him to support his claims by presenting a seismological device.
Abedinzadeh, who has a master’s degree in management, hopes to bring a new revolution to the history of earthquake prediction!
Read more about his claims in the following interview.
Are earthquakes really predictable? We’ve been told since we were kids that only animals are able to sense earthquakes before they occur and that only a few seconds earlier. Have you invented any device? What is your method of forecasting?
I’ve been doing research in this area for over 12 years and have achieved some valuable results. I have been cooperating with University of Tehran’s Institute of Geophysics for a few years and, unlike public opinion, I can prove that earthquakes are predictable 48 hours earlier!
How do you do that? Have you created any specific device?
Some believe that earthquakes are predictable only through magic or in dreams and such superstitions. Put all these aside. If I’m not mistaken, some gases such as argon and neon come out of the earth’s crust as a prelude to earthquake and these gases generate waves by themselves. Some animals react to them.
Does that mean that you notice the occurrence of an earthquake simply by smelling those gases?
I don’t feel the smell of those gases but I can detect the emission of them through examining some animals’ reactions.
What animals?
I’m afraid; I don’t want to divulge such information before the registration of my discovery.
Are these animals found in every country?
Yes. Depending on the magnitude scale of earthquakes, I can predict their occurrences in Pakistan, Japan or even Argentine.
Could you please name at least one of these animals?
Spider is one of them. These insects enjoy very strong senses that are not known to many. You can even measure the earthquake’s magnitude by examining their moves.
What is special about the moves of spiders? They only produce threads to construct webs, catch their prey and sometimes descend from the ceiling.
You do not notice because you haven’t worked on their moves and haven’t examined them precisely.
Well, what do spiders do before an earthquake occurs?
They tend to run in the opposite direction of the earthquake’s focus! I live in Semnan’s Meyami County. In Meyami, if I’m to divide up from where I’m standing now, Bandar Abbas would be in the south, north is clear, Pakistan and Japan would be the in east. I can forecast earthquakes as large as magnitude 4.5 to 6.5.
God forbid! Should we be expecting any earthquakes in Iran?
Not yet; however, I predicted the earthquake that struck Pakistan 48 hours before it occurred.
Did you predict it from here?
Yes, I predicted the one in Japan from here too. I study the moves these animals make. I wish you were here to see it for yourself. There are many things that are hard to elucidate verbally. The more earth is closer to the centre, our distance from Japan becomes shorter; hence sooner detection.
Are you collaborating with Institute of Geophysics and Seismological Centres?
If anything comes up, I will let the National Disaster Management Organization (NDMO) know. Semnan’s Seismological Centre says that I have to provide proofs or present a device to corroborate my claims; otherwise they reject it. Although I have been working with them for five years, they still want a device. Recently, Jundishapur University of Iran’s southwestern city of Ahvaz built a device for $14,000, but it is just a pendulum.
What I am trying to make them understand is that predicting the occurrence of an earthquake does not need any devices. You can do the prediction through many signs that are prevalent. I forecasted the earthquake that hit Iran’ East Azarbaijan through the same signs; however, no one bothered to listen.
Who did you tell?
I informed the National Disaster Management Organization (NDMO)’s office in Semnan. I went to Tehran’s Seismological Centre too, but they said they could not broadcast baseless news. You give me your phone number; 48 hours before any earthquake happens in the world, I’ll send you a message and inform you of its location!
Elsewhere in the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the role of the ministry in helping the realization of Resistance Economy, saying, “The solution to the country’s problems is Resistance Economy and some works have begun in this field but the result of these works must be seen on the ground.”
