UC Santa Cruz

Seismic activity preceding recent large earthquakes, including the 1 April 2014 earthquake in Chile, hints that some large earthquakes may potentially be predictable. Are there measurable, distinctive precursors that can warn us in advance of the planet's largest earthquakes? Foreshocks have long been considered the most promising candidates for predicting earthquakes. At least half of large earthquakes have foreshocks, but these foreshocks are difficult or even impossible to distinguish from non-precursory seismic activity. The foreshocks for the 1 April 2014 Chile event and other recent large earthquakes suggest that observable precursors may exist before large earthquakes.