Watch now: Why are cataclysmic quakes still so difficult to predict?

Earthquakes killed over a million people last century and it’s predicted this century will see ten times as many deaths. So with all the tech at our disposal, why can’t we predict the next big quake?

Houses swallowed by tsunami waves burn in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture (state) after Japan was struck by a strong earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, March 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING ALLOWED IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

Today’s massive 8.3 earthquake off Chile’s coast is an unwelcome reminder of nature’s terrifying ability to play russian roulette with our lives.

Last century, earthquakes killed over a million people and it is predicted this century might see ten times as many deaths.

So with all the high tech equipment at our disposal to measure changes to our earth, why haven’t scientists worked out how to predict when and where the next big quake is going to happen?

This BBC feature presentation follows the men and women who chase earthquakes in an attempt to crack this mystery and help earthquake prone cities see the danger before it happens.

A Chinese woman is comforted as she cries after her mother's dead body was found near the rubble of a collapsed building in Dujiangyan, southwest Sichuan Province in 2008, nearly a week after an earthquake devastated the area.