Induced seismicity: Realia and myths

The problems of initiation of earthquakes by other strong earthquakes and by underground nuclear explosions are considered. For this purpose, special software was designed that made it possible to process all of the world catalog data on earthquakes of 1950–2005. A more effective and reliable method was applied to the analysis of seismic activity, taking into account its background state. As a result, it is unambiguously established that the effect of strong earthquakes or explosions is negligibly small. In any case, their effect cannot be recognized from catalog data that served as a basis for many studies of induced seismicity problems. This conclusion is of great significance for assessment of the possibility of real-time prediction of earthquakes. If this effect were to exist, such prediction would become impossible due to unpredictability of the triggering action.