A University of California professor claiming to have cracked the mystery of accurate earthquake predication says it’s likely a massive earthquake reading at least 6.4 on the Richter scale will hit southern California by September.

So far, Russian-born mathematical geophysicist Vladimir Keilis-Borok and his team have accurately predicted a series of earthquakes, including Japan’s 2003 Hokkaido quake and the 1994 Northridge quake in Los Angeles.

The 82-year-old, who calls earthquake prediction the “holy grail of earthquake science”, says the prediction is “the strongest result we have obtained so far”.

Professor Keilis-Borok says the quake will hit a 31,200-square-kilomentre area of southern California.