Your points are well-taken, but in fact the way the government is organized, we scientists are not directly competing with public awareness efforts. We are competing with other basic and applied science projects.

As you suggest, we are trying a shotgun approach to see if any indicators are reliable for earthquake prediction, but are losing steam as hundreds of attempts have failed so far.

We also are attacking the physics of earthquakes, partly to just understand the process, partly to look for clues to guide prediction and hazard estimation efforts.

John