I am not associated with the USGS. I do not work with the USGS. Quakeprediction.com We use many methods to come up with our final forecast. Here are a few listed below; Moon phases Animal behaviour Human behaviour Micro earthquakes Seismic gaps Thermal temperature changes Satellite earthquake clouds ULF or Ultra Low Frequency sounds Water temperature changes Steam emissions Magnetic field changes Radon gas release Well water changes Animals can detect the P-wave or ultrasonic wave generated by a big underground explosion or the rupture of an earthquake, even if the waves are too small for humans' senses. These waves travel faster than the S-wave earthquake wave that most strongly shakes the ground and causes the most damage. When this happens, animals can detect the incoming earthquake wave, and start behaving agitatedly or nervously, the same way a human would behave if they heard a loud explosion right outside their house. Some people believe that in this way animals sense the immediate onset of earthquakes. In support of this claim, instances are cited when people have witnessed flight of animals just before an earthquake disaster. In fact, according to the Chief conservator of forests for Tamilnadu, a few minutes before the killer tsunami waves generated by an underwater earthquake hit the Indian coastline in December 2004, a 500-strong herd of blackbucks rushed away from the coastal areas to the safety of a nearby hilltop. Since the beginning of recorded history, observations of unusual animal behavior before earthquakes have been recorded by people from almost all civilizations. The Chinese began a systematic study of this unusual animal behavior and in December 1974 predicted a major earthquake that did, in fact, occur in February 1975. But skeptics claim to debunk nearly all such observations. In fact, the 1975 prediction relied most heavily on a series of strong foreshocks. The animal behavior reports are often ambiguous and not consistently observed. There is little evidence for animals being able to sense impending earthquakes, although it is likely they can sense the initial, weaker P-waves before people. Seismometers remain much more sensitive than even the animals, however. In folklore, some animals have had more reports of being able to predict quakes than others. Likely: Dogs, cats, chickens and other smaller animals. There have been reports with elephants, too. Unlikely: Goats, horses, cows, and larger animals. Japan has a long tradition associating catfish with earthquake prediction. From this idea emerged a long university research programme concluding in 2004 in which it was proposed that the (established) high sensitivity of catfish to electric fields was involved in detecting fields of a few hertz because of piezoelectric effects on deeply buried quartz crystals. Actual monitoring of catfish and correlation with earthquakes gave results that are not promising. Source of data At Quakeprediction.com we have also found that animal behaviour is very important when working with earthquake prediction. This is not the only tool we use when making our forecasts, but it is a vital part of our earthquake forecasting model. Quakeprediction.com was officially opened online at 4:15pm - May 24th 2006, 100 years after the April 18th 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.