First real sense of the seriousness of Northridge for me came when I rushed to my workplace in Burbank and the security people flagged me down and told me not to park near anything that could fall on me. I was pretty much in auto-mode until then.
I think it’s a real mistake for folks not to make a conscious decision to take a moment to pause and think through their moves carefully after a quake. And then you need to be thinking defensively against a host of problems.
Some people freak out, and heaven only knows if they’ll go through a red light in a panic or not. Quakes really unhinge some people.
I had a friend in the ‘72 Sylmar quake. He was the opener of a Mobil service station at Foothill and Pennsylvania in La Crescenta. He watched the waves of the quake gown down Foothill and it unnerved him.
He fled the station in his car and drove home leaving it completely open to the public.
He is terrified of quakes to this day.
In a bad quake, you don’t want to be driving. Power lines could come down all over the place and gas and water mains are also a serious threat.