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It's not just the Big One we have to worry about out here. There are lots of other, smaller, earthquake faults which are bloody dangerous. The most dangerous of the lesser ones we know about is the Hayward Fault on the East Bay side of San Francisco Bay - it runs right through UC Berkeley's sports stadium, and is potent enough to take out San Francisco on the west side as well as the East Bay (which it did 150 years ago).

And about half of California's water supply depends on a levee system far more fragile than that of New Orleans - in the Sacramento Delta. It could be taken out by a moderate earthquake or a real good storm, and we had one of those 50 years ago which almost brought down the Golden Gate Bridge - my father drove the next to last car across it to the north before the Bridge was closed from swaying too dangerously.

The Hayward Fault is very bad news - the maximum potential quake is supposedly "only" 7.5, but it goes right through the heavily populated cities of the East Bay, with lots of unreinforced masonry buildings. It would also take out the Bay Bridge and BART, so no one would be getting into San Francisco from the east.

The next Big One is thought to be most likely, though, to occur not in the San Francisco Bay Area, but on the San Andreas at Tejon Pass, north of Los Angeles. They have had an 8.5 approximately every 150 years going back a long time...and it's been 160+ years since the last one.

And about half of California's water supply depends on a levee system far more fragile than that of New Orleans - in the Sacramento Delta. It could be taken out by a moderate earthquake or a real good storm, and we had one of those 50 years ago which almost brought down the Golden Gate Bridge - my father drove the next to last car across it to the north before the Bridge was closed from swaying too dangerously.

Yeah, and when quakes hit, we don't get a warning. We've been thinking about that this past week. It's been a while since I prepared an earthquake preparedness kit, and I think I need to build up a new one. The problem I have is having extra medication on hand. They won't give you a month's supply to hold back for emergencies. Or will they? I've never had to rely on prescription meds before, and my bf takes several.

For the most part, people up here are laid back, good churchgoing folks. Of course we do have that small segment of the population that will cause trouble, in the event of a catastrophic quake.