Canearthquakesbepredicted?Howshouldpeopleovercomethedifficultiesencounteredinthestudyofearthquakeprediction?Thisissuecantakeinspirationfromtheexperiencesofweatherforecast.Althoughweatherforecastingtookaperiodofabouthalfacenturytoadvancefromempiricaltonumericalforecast,ithasachievedsignificantsuccess.AconsensushasbeenreachedamongtheChineseseismologicalcommunitythatearthquakepredictionmustalsodevelopfromempiricalforecastingtophysicalprediction.However,itisseldommentionedthatphysicalpredictionischaracterizedbyquantitativelynumericalpredictionsbasedonphysicallaws.Thisarticlediscussesfivekeycomponentsfornumericalearthquakepredictionandtheircurrentstatus.Weconcludethatnumericalearthquakepredictionshouldnowbeputontheplanningagendaanditsroadmapdesigned,seismicstationsshouldbedeployedandobservationsmadeaccordingtotheneedsofnumericalprediction,andtheoreticalresearchshouldbecarriedout.
