Thousands of Venezuelans were feared dead on Thursday after two powerful earthquakes wreaked havoc in and around the capital Caracas, trapping people beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and setting off powerful aftershocks.

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 160 km (100 miles) west of Caracas on Wednesday afternoon, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

As soon as the news of the horrific earthquake surfaced, controversial claims were made that the seismic activity was predicted by Solar System Geometry Survey (SSGEOS).

Although, surprisingly, the two earthquakes came just minutes after the SSGEOS prediction in an X post, it did not mention the location where the quake was about to hit.

The SSGEOS tweet was posted at 2:37 PM PDT on June 24, 2026 and the Venezuela quakes (7.2 then 7.5) hit at 3:04 PM PDT and 3:05 PM PDT the same day, about 27 minutes after the post.

“Planetary and lunar geometry in the next two days. Potential for some stronger seismic activity,” read the text in SSGEO X post containing a picture of some celestial bodies.

NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) state that earthquakes cannot be reliably predicted using planetary and lunar alignments, as promoted by groups like SSGEOS.

No scientific method currently allows precise short-term earthquake forecasts.