A World History of Earthquake Forecasting

Earthquake forecasting is one of the most ancient skills known to mankind. The first known forecast was made by Pheresydes of Syros about 2500 years ago. He forecasted a strong earthquake by noticing that usually very clean water from wells suddenly became dirty and salty. The earthquake indeed took place two days later, bringing fame to Pheresydes.

In school, everyone learned that earthquakes cannot be predicted. Well, now it’s time to put to an end to this thousand-year-old myth! In our World History of Earthquake Forecasting, we will present well-documented stories about unusual phenomena observed before earthquakes and reveal that some past events were, in fact, predicted!