USGS says predicting earthquakes impossible, scientists have no way of knowing when the next one will strike

New Delhi: The devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake and a series of aftershocks that have rocked Nepal along with parts of North and East India have led to panic among the general public. To add to their woes several rumours are doing the rounds claiming massive quakes will hit India soon.

But scientists who study earthquakes say there is no method at present which can predict the time and intensity of this natural calamity. While the probability of an earthquake can be estimated, those claiming to predict the exact date and time are just fooling the public.

According to United States Geological Survey (USGS), one of the most reliable and technically advanced organisation involved in studying earthquakes, scientists are unlikely to be ever be able to predict them.

"No, and it is unlikely they will ever be able to predict them. 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 says.

In reply to another question - is there such a thing as earthquake weather? Can some animals or people tell when an earthquake is about to hit - USGS replies, "These are two questions that do not yet have definite answers. If weather does affect earthquake occurrence, or if some animals or people can tell when an earthquake is coming, we do not yet understand how it works."

Seismologists and geologists universally agree that predicting an earthquake is not possible. They say that while there is always a chance of a major earthquake in a geologically active area like the Himalayas where the Eurasian and Indian plates meet, there is no scientific method to find out in advance the date, time and intensity of such a temblor.

On the basis of scientific data and studies, the probability of a future earthquake can be calculated, but even then it is not very accurate.

So all the messages being circulated around on social media about the time, place and intensity of the next earthquake are hoax, and are intended to just spread panic.