Editing Foreshock (section)

==Earthquake prediction==
An increase in seismic activity in an area has been used as a method of [[Earthquake prediction|predicting earthquakes]], most notably in the case of the [[1975 Haicheng earthquake]] in China, where an evacuation was triggered by an increase in activity. However, most earthquakes lack obvious foreshock patterns and this method has not proven useful, as most small earthquakes are not foreshocks, leading to probable false alarms.<ref name="Ludwin">{{cite web|url=http://www.ess.washington.edu/SEIS/PNSN/INFO_GENERAL/eq_prediction.html|title=Earthquake Prediction|last=Ludwin|first=R.|date=16 September 2004|publisher=The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network|access-date=29 November 2010|archive-date=16 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616210148/http://www.ess.washington.edu/SEIS/PNSN/INFO_GENERAL/eq_prediction.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Earthquakes along oceanic [[transform fault]]s do show repeatable foreshock behaviour, allowing the prediction of both the location and timing of such earthquakes.<ref name="McGuire">{{cite journal|last=McGuire|first=J.J. |author2=Boettcher M.S. |author3=Jordan T.H.|year=2005|title=Foreshock sequences and short-term earthquake predictability on East Pacific Rise transform faults|journal=Nature|volume=434|pages=457–461|doi=10.1038/nature03377|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v434/n7032/abs/nature03377.html|access-date=29 November 2010|pmid=15791246|issue=7032|bibcode = 2005Natur.434..457M |s2cid=4337369 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>