You say "I on the other hand have been fortunate to have contacts with persons from many sectors and they are quite sure [earthquake prediction] can be done".

I simply disagree. From working 25 years in seismological research, I (and ALL my scientific colleagues, bar none) hope someday predictions become a reality, but are far from quite sure.

As Mike points out, the foremost goal of SAFOD is to look at a fault zone for basic research. They've already crossed the San Andreas fault at seismogenic depth, so if it stops tomorrow, the basic research has still been advanced.