Even without prediction a lot could be done. The “Ash Wednesday” earthquake here probably took a minute or more to reach us. With a net of sensors and some means to immediately notify the populace around the region, lives could be saved.
I’m thinking right now of the tornado warning sirens (old air-raid sirens) that we use here in the Mid-west. If sirens could be hooked up to the system somehow, then one wouldn’t need to rely on media broadcasts of the warning. I have no idea how feasible this would be, and I’d assume those working on it have thought about this before.