Did an official American earthquake forecasting organization suggest a strong earthquake might strike near Shizuoka Prefecture on February 10, 2024? No, that's not true: The Quake Prediction Earthquake Forecast Center is not a governmental or academic institution for the U.S. or any other country. No substantive evidence suggests that their forecasts rely on scientifically supported data. In addition, there was not such an earthquake near Shizuoka Prefecture on that day.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on February 10, 2024. It began (translated from Japanese to English by Lead Stories staff):
Astonishment! Announced by the American Earthquake Prediction Organization. February, 10. Japan's major earthquake forecast. 95%
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Feb 15 12:18:54 2024 UTC)
Several other videos (video 1, archived here) (video 2, archived here,) (video 3, archived here) on TikTok make the same claim, one of which includes a link that leads to the American Earthquake Prediction Agency's website (archived here).
NOTE; We have been researching earthquake prediction since 2005.
NOTE; We are not associated with the USGS earthquake prediction site
NOTE; We have been systematically studying the structure and behavior of earthquakes
in the physical and natural world through observation and experiment since 2005.
Official earthquake information from the United States can be found on the USGS website (archived here) which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Past earthquake information from the Japan Meteorological Agency (archived here) shows there was not such an earthquake near Shizuoka Prefecture on that day.
