Unfortunately, predictions that are part of ongoing research is not a subject that is productive to argue about with a wide audience. Imagine that people with less-than-stellar track records predict earthquakes for areas where earthquakes are infrequent but still a matter of concern, which happens frequently. This is why Tom Jordan has set up the Center for the Study of Earthquake Predictibility, and why NEPEC and CEPEC exist. We try to be sure predictions reach a certain level of rigor AND accuracy so as not to stir up the public with no justification.

One need look no farther than the last 4 brou-hahas - the Palmdale budge in the 1970's, Ivan Browning's zoo in midwest, the Parkfield prediction for the late eighties, and KB's prediction for the Mojave desert. All honest efforts, all just wound up undermining confidence in seismological pronouncements, and may well have been re-considered had we known then what we know now.