I can also say: a major quake is ripe for California. Actually, this has been said by quite some scientists for quite some years. But this does not mean that when a quake actually happens, anyone has "predicted" it before hand.

The original study is worth looking into, but this article is trying quite hard to spin it. Just one interesting detail: the article does not say explicitly anywhere that the earthquake was "predicted"(such claim would make it too vulnerable for dispute), yet it web address contains the phase "earthquake-predicted". What a superb job of brain-washing by innuendo. One has to go into quite some subtle details to point out the problems, maybe someone (比如出色分析了“围城中的拉萨”一文的厚积薄发兄) wants to do that.

Well, such spinning is to be expected. They are trying so hard to discredit China.