Friday, April 10th, 2009

Predicting Earthquakes

Map of earthquake intensity in Italy's April, 2009 6.3 quake. USGS image.

Is it possible to predict earthquakes? While one researcher says radon readings gave early clues to the recent quake in Italy, other earthquake experts aren't so sure.

Last week, Giampaolo Giuliani told the mayor of the town of Sulmona, Italy, that the town was 24 hours from a major quake. Though no quake arrived, several days later a major quake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, struck near the town of L’aquila, about 35 miles away. But was Giuliani's prediction accurate, or just coincidence? Other researchers have looked for connections between radon levels and earthquakes before, with no results. We'll talk about research into earthquake prediction.