What does a small laboratory in Portland with three ‘‘scientists’’, a pick-up truck with an antenna and an Oscar-nominated film-maker have to do with thousands of Indians who were evacuated from their homes on Thursday morning amidst pandemonium?

It is this Portland-based company, Terra Research, that had sent the warning to the Indian Embassy. ‘‘An earthquake of intensity 7.5 to 8.1 was expected in the next 12 hours off the coast of New Zealand,’’ said the forecast.

Travelling via the Ministry of Science and Technology, it got translated into a terse, clipped warning to all the chief secretaries by the National Disaster Management Agency, saying: ‘‘A number of experts outside the country are suggesting that another tsunami may hit Indian Ocean today afternoon…’’

The group claims it is developing a ‘‘new science’’ that can predict earthquakes based on studying the earth’s ‘‘dark matter’’. The mind behind Terra Research, Larry Park, depends on his pick-up truck loaded with a rotating 3-foot disc to pick up vibrations that conventional seismographs can’t measure.

The technology is not known. ‘‘Nuclear science was also not known before it was put to use in the 40s,’’ said Michael McNulty speaking to The Indian Express. McNulty is a film-maker working with Park for the last two years.

The earth’s ‘‘dark matter’’ transits ‘‘resonating energy’’ and when it finds a matching energy, it erupts. ‘‘It works like a tuning fork,’’ he explained. Using atomic interferometres, he can measure these vibrations 20-80 hours before the actual earthquake.

A computer engineer, Park chanced upon large power surges that were cooking the electrical system of the super computer. His initial investigations showed the energy was escaping from the faults in the earth’s crust as the plant was located in an earthquake zone. Since then, he has dedicated the past 10 years to forecasting earthquakes.

Scientists quoted by the Associated Press junk his technology. Oregon State University geologist Chris Goldfinger said he had not heard of Park but his ideas seemed unlikely. Despite a few accurate predictions, ‘‘there’s nothing that’s worked twice in a row.’’

‘‘It’s technical gobbledygook,’’ said Bill Steele, spokesman for the Pacific Northwest Seismographs Network at the University of Washington.

But the team is unfazed. ‘‘The earth does not lie. The energy has to go somewhere. It was the same signature when the December 26 earthquake struck,’’ said McNulty, explaining the rationale of communicating the warning to India on ‘‘humanitarian’’ grounds. Terra Research sells earthquake forecasting tools and services. It had approached nearly 20 countries but did not get any response.