Earthquakes: The united science of seismology

The furies of the Earth can be awesome. Of the many destructive natural risks that humanity must face, earthquakes are perhaps the cruellest, due to the sudden and unpredictable nature of the violence they unleash. Although they are largely concentrated in known risk areas, there are a great many of them and some remain deceptively dormant for long periods. Paraseismic engineering techniques used in building construction are an important weapon against the destructive force of earthquakes. This protection saves many lives in the world's more developed regions which can afford to build in this way. Elsewhere, earthquakes continue to sow death and destruction. What can science do in the face of such cataclysms unleashed from the very depths of the Earth?