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Monday, September 20, 2004

Lessons learned for asteroids and earthquake will eventually converge

Will a 5.5 earthquake in southern california that was 14 days late be considered a success by the Keilis-Borok team ? Please note that the miss of the Assissi earthquake is symmetrical to this southern california miss. The M8 algorithm said the Assissi would be 5.5 and ended up being 6.5 whereas this one was predicted to be 6+ and ended up being late and less than expected. What is seriously missing in these stories is the idea of probability distribution, there is no way the M8 algorithm said there was no chance whatsoever of a quake after September 5th if it had not occured by then. At one point or another, like the controversy that erupted for near earth miss of asteroids, this incident will lead the scientific community to be more behaved when it comes to warning the general public.

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