Why Earthquake Prediction Remains on Shaky Ground

October is Earthquake Preparedness Month, and people in quake-prone zones all over the world will be practicing their best "drop, cover and hold-on" moves as officials arrange events to remind people that the earth under their feet isn't so stable. In 1980, Congress created the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council (NEPEC), an advisory group that was supposed to evaluate the routine predictions scientists thought might soon be rolling in. "We have not been able to make observations o