People living in unsafe buildings should stay outdoors if possible. That prospect is what keeps some scientists working on the prediction problem. There's a catch, however, as there often is in the confusing world of rock science. Borehole strain meters are also expensive, she stresses, and seldom used outside California, Iceland and Japan. I don't know of any borehole strain meters on the North Anatolian Fault.
Geophysicists already know that nearby earthquakes can raise the strain on a fault.
Accurate measurements of strain should raise the chance of accurate predictions. For now, earthquake prediction is a limited science with limited aims and a limited budget. If prediction is difficult at best, Person says geologists can still contribute to earthquake safety by analyzing ground motion and records of earthquakes. It's partly a matter of common sense, he says. Looking at history, if earthquakes have been a certain magnitude, we know the system in that area is capable of producing an earthquake of that size.