Can you predict an earthquake?

Answer 1

With the current state of technology, we are not able, with even the slightest bit of certainty, able to predict earthquakes.

Answer 2

At present No.
Prediction means (x,y,z & t) coordinate and time of the event. This is not possible at present. There are views about probability % of the event occurring at a place, seismic gaps where no earthquake occurred over a long period of time and so on. I do not consider this a prediction at all.
To understand the problem of prediction, we have to understand the mechanism of an earthquake; here I am talking about earthquakes due to tectonic and volcanic activities only. The other like due to nuclear explosions, meteorite impact, collapse of natural or man made structures can be known in advance to a great extent as the location is already known and time can be assessed with a great certainty.

In case of earthquakes also, in general the location of eruption is known but the time of eruption cannot be worked out at present. So in this case also the prediction is incomplete till the time is known. The problem is in estimation the pressure/stress build up and knowing the yielding point of the part of crust through which the eruption would take place. For this the size of the crustal block and the size of potential magma/melt or the volume of the geothermal cell which is instantly transforming the solid material into a melt, a geochemical transformation of phases is to be known and this information is difficult to estimate at present. The day it can be done, prediction of volcanic eruptions and attendant earthquakes would be possible.

For tectonic earthquakes, the situation is further complicated. We do not know the location or the size of the blocks or segment of the earth’s crust that is ‘about to yield' causing an earthquake. We know to some extent, the main fractures and regional fault where slip can take place, but as on this day, we do not know the stress carrying capacity of these blocks and we also do not know how much stress has already accumulated in different blocks. Consider this, we have different size beakers with different quantity of liquid in them, we pour more liquid and reach a stage where one or the other beaker become brim full earlier than its neighbor and a an addition of a single drop in it spills the liquid by a splash (outpour is more than the drop that caused the splash). Here in this simple analogy, we know the carrying capacity and knew exactly when the beaker has become brim full and would not take any more liquiqd not even a drop, so we could know the precise place of splash and time. In case of earth or lithosphere we do not know these beakers like blocks, its stress carrying capacity and fullness. The day we can estimate it we could predict an earthquake to the level of our knowledge about these crustal beakers and not before that.
thanks

Answer 3

An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from the sudden release of stored energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes may manifest themselves by a shaking or displacement of the ground and sometimes tsunamis, which may lead to loss of life and destruction of property.

Earthquakes may occur naturally or as a result of human activities. In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans—that generates seismic waves.

Answer 4

We can only go so far as to say "there is an X percent chance that in the next Y number of years, an earthquake will hit this fault area.