Popular Science: What's the difference between earthquake prediction and earthquake warning?

In the field of seismology, "earthquake prediction" mainly refers to the scientific prediction of the location, time and magnitude of possible earthquakes made by the seismological department by using the existing seismic instruments and monitoring means, which is generally used to judge the long-term situation of earthquakes-for example, Nepal is located in the collision zone between India-Australia plate and Eurasia plate, so the possibility of earthquakes here is of course greater in the long run, which is also in line with the article that some scientists predict that a major earthquake will occur in Nepal.

"Earthquake early warning" is an evacuation alarm when the local earthquake wave reaches a place farther away from the source, that is, when the earthquake has already occurred, but it is also a truly effective means of disaster prevention, which we need to focus on. When a major earthquake occurs, seismic stations near the epicenter of the major earthquake first receive seismic waves. At this time, an alarm signal will be issued immediately. Because the electromagnetic wave travels very fast, the remote area can know that a major earthquake has occurred before the arrival of the seismic wave, and immediately take evasive measures to reduce casualties.

"Earthquake prediction" is used to warn of short-term or even impending earthquakes. What we usually care about is the "short-term and imminent prediction" of earthquakes, and we hope that after the prediction is issued, we can escape in time before the earthquake occurs. Since 1966, China has made successful examples of earthquake prediction in Haicheng earthquake and Songpan earthquake. Earthquake prediction is still an unsolved worldwide problem, and countries are still actively exploring and studying, and only a few earthquakes can be predicted. At present, the difficulty of earthquake prediction has not been overcome, and earthquake prediction can only predict earthquakes of a certain magnitude in a certain area for a period of time. Earthquake prediction that accurately describes the time, place and magnitude of an earthquake is likely to be a rumor.