in all seriousness These quakes are very scary In some ways deadlier then most natural diesasters, especially due to no forecasting for them for the most part. No warning = greater casulties very bad news from Haiti..
By no means am I trying to minimize the impact of the devasting effects of quakes.
I do think that predictions are a reality except for that time factor thing. It won't help if they are off by "only" a month or so - a geological blink of the eye.
With all the geo-services available to track and measure all the plates - major and minor - in their directions and speeds, the application of historical physics and current modeling techniques, it amazes me how these things can still creep up out of the blue.
Even with some degree of accuracy, I think there are some countries - like Haiti - where it wouldn't matter.
I remember the Northridge CA quake. I was living in Vegas at the time. The hotel pool had white caps from it, the chandeliers in the restaurant were swinging. Pretty wild and that was almost 300 miles away. Seeing that destruction on the news was mind blowing.
I could never imagine actually being in an earthquake. You don't know when it'll end or how intense it'll get. Tornadoes and the like, you can see one way or the other. Earthquakes? They're just there when they want to be and it's got to be a very terrifying moment.