In defense of VAN's earthquake predictions

Abstract

Chouliaras and Stavrakakis [1999] (hereafter referred to as CS) claimed that the following statement by Uyeda [1998] is completely false:“On March 5 and 26,1993, strong earthquakes hit Pirgos city, Greece. Despite heavy damage, there was no loss of life because the citizens were prepared due to VAN predictions.”First, I would like to admit that the above cited was an inadvertent overstatement in the sense that the March 5 earthquake, though it caused several houses to collapse, was not heavily damaging. I would like to change the second part of the statement to,“With VAN predictions serious panic due to rumors was calmed down in the former case and lives were saved in the latter, despite the heavy damage.”