Types of earthquake prediction

Types of earthquake prediction are:
-Earthquake forecast: statement on long-term statistical probability of earthquake in a certain area,
-Long-term prediction,
-Short-term prediction,
-Earthquake warning: actionable declaration, up to a few days

The notion that several different kinds of prediction might be possible, each with its own time scale, is central to current debates about earthquake prediction. A short-term prediction of a few days to weeks, based on some earthquake process with a short time scale (e.g., nucleation), is distinct from a long-term prediction based on a longer-term process (e.g., stress buildup due to plate motions). These different kinds of predictions may have very different chances for success.

Long term prediction
Long-term prediction is based mainly on the knowledge of when and where earthquakes have occurred in the past.The physical bases for this type of prediction are the slow buildup of stress, the loading rate for each fault segment, and the timing of the warning interval with respect to the approximate time remaining in the cycle of large earthquakes.Predictions of this type are usually probabilistic in nature to allow for observed differences in individual repeat times and uncertainties in the parameters used in the calculations.
Abundant evidence shows that earthquakes are unstable slip repeating on existing weak planes in the earth’s topmost part, which is too cold (<300C) to deform stably. An earthquake occurs when the stress on the weak plane, which increases slowly due to plate motion, reaches the frictional strength.Two methods of earthquake forecasting are being employed - paleoseismology and seismic gaps.

Paleoseismology - the study of prehistoric earthquakes. Through study of the offsets in sedimentary layers near fault zones, it is often possible to determine recurrence intervals of major earthquakes prior to historical records.

Seismic gaps - A seismic gap is a zone along a tectonically active area where no earthquakes have occurred recently, but it is known that elastic strain is building in the rocks. If a seismic gap can be identified, then it might be an area expected to have a large earthquake in the near future.

Short-term prediction
Based on the earthquake event itself.
The public perception in many countries and, in fact, that of many earth scientists is that earthquake prediction means short-term prediction, a warning of hours to days.They typically equate a successful prediction with one that is 100% reliable. If we want to predict a plate-boundary earthquake with, say, 1-year accuracy, we need to know the strength and the current stress level with an accuracy of 0.1MPa, which way we do not know. So, we hope that Mother Nature has something more in favor of us, which we call ‘earthquake
preparation processes.Anomalous events or processes that may precede an earthquake are called precursor events and might signal a coming earthquake.Despite the array of possible precursor events that are possible to monitor, successful short-term earthquake prediction has so far been difficult to obtain.The processes that cause earthquakes occur deep beneath the surface and are difficult to monitor.Earthquakes in different regions or along different faults all behave differently, thus no consistent patterns have so far been recognized.For many large earthquakes, foreshocks are either absent or of very small size, making them unreliable for prediction purposes. Hence, the question of whether short-term prediction is possible depends on whether or not a means can be devised to detect nucleation directly, and if the form of the nucleation is predictive of the size as well as the time and the place of the subsequent event.

A prediction is a neutral statement made based on accumulated observations.A warning is a declaration that normal life routines should be altered to deal with the impending hazard.
Prediction- based on science.
Warning- Interpretations of prediction that take public policy into account.