Social media earthquake predictor warns PNW of ‘the big one’

There isn’t a way of knowing exactly when “the big one” could happen–but one guy has a feeling it’s soon.

A recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences estimates there is a 15% chance a magnitude 8.0 earthquake could strike the Cascadia subduction zone, a fault line that stretches from Northern Vancouver Island all the way to Northern California. The potential quake could drown cities like Seattle, with coastal land predicted to sink more than 6 feet. Experts believe this will happen sometime in the next 50 years.

“It’s all about the movement of the North America plate right now, it’s steady and quiet and locked in place… and even though the Cascadia subduction zone is actually supposed to be an inward movement, I am suspecting it could be triggered by a northward displacement, which could disturb the dormancy,” Brent Dmitruk said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

Despite not having a formal education in seismology, Dmitruk is an earthquake researcher with a history of accurately predicting seismic events on social media. In 2024, he predicted an earthquake in Northern California two months prior to the 7.0 shake, garnering thousands of internet followers and online support.

“What is it about you?” asked John Curley. “Not a scientist, a guy from Canada now living in the middle of the Amazon, that you have world leaders waiting to see what you tweet about earthquakes?”

Dmitruk said that he is mostly skilled in “pattern recognition,” but what sets him apart is his gut feeling.

Social media earthquake predictor gets his start after Philippines earthquake

He first started making predictions after an experience in 2019.

“I was living in this humble little hotel in the southern Philippines—when suddenly, boom first came a major earthquake, and then they started coming one after the other, and the hotel shook really strongly,” Dmitruk said. “But then I started getting these vibes from these earthquakes.”

Now, Dmitruk warns Washingtonians to be prepared; he senses “the big one” could be sooner than we think.

“There’s a very elevated chance that it happens by summer of next year,” Dmitruk said. “I’ve been seeing stronger signs that it could be between summer of this year and summer of next year, is what I’ve been feeling.”

An earthquake of this size has not hit the fault line since the year 1700.

Listen to the full conversation below.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here

Follow @https://twitter.com/jcurleyshow