Scientists cannot predict quake, says USGS

​Noted authority on natural disasters, the US Geological Survey (USGS), says that neither it nor any other scientists have ever predicted a major earthquake.

“We do not know how, and we do not expect to know how any time in the foreseeable future. They are not based on scientific evidence, and earthquakes are part of a scientific process,” the US Government scientific agency said online in reply to queries about predicting an earthquake, particularly the one in Enga and Southern Highlands provinces on February 26. Online inquiries also showed that it was unlikely scientists would ever be able to predict earthquakes.

“Scientists have tried many different ways of predicting earthquakes, but none have been successful. On any particular fault, scientists know there will be another earthquake sometime in the future, but they have no way of telling when it will happen,” the USGS said.

There are evidences though that some animals can predict the onset of an earthquake.

In other countries rats, weasels, snakes, and centipedes reportedly have left their homes and headed for safety several days before a destructive earthquake. Anecdotal evidence abounds of animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behaviour anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake.

The scientists of the USGS, with headquarters in Reston, Virginia, study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it, according to Wikipedia.

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