I enjoyed reading it. Based on what you disclose in public, I can certainly picture you as a Victorian era gentleman....

I've lived in San Diego since I was 7. Californians know earthquakes can happen, but they don't happen very often in any given area. Which tends to leave us complacent about quakes.

(In the 40-some years I've been here, I've experienced many of them, but only 2 or 3 significant ones, at most. And that includes last Sunday's. All the rest were nothing to even get upset over. )

Like anywhere else, most Californians don't even think about the possibility of something unpleasant happening to them. And of the few who actually do consider the possibility, most of them tend to feel they have plenty of time to protect themselves from an earthquake. "After all, it's not like there's going to be one tomorrow!"

Man, I would have loved to have had that conversation with one of them on Saturday.

Well, there's something to the psychology of preparedness that we still don't have a good handle on. What are the chances of a violent home invasion or child abduction by a stranger or rape by a stranger to them? Very low. Yet these particular events are in the forefront of many people's consciousness on a daily basis even if they live in safe La Jolla or Rancho Bernardo.

I find it amusing but dismaying, too, that a certain major security company only uses examples of violent home invasions to sell their products/services in TV commercials lately. Gee, remember when they used to be called "burglar alarms" and the commercials would show a guy in a ski mask peek his head above the window sill? The commercials dismay me since fear is used far too often to sell things or for political purposes. But, I guess it's easier to get people to act on fear than to stand up for something in a positive way, unfortunately. Preparedness should be a positive lifestyle choice, not something done out of fear but that approach doesn't seem to work too well as we see from these earthquake prep numbers.

When it comes down to it, most people figure it can't happen to them. Then when it does, it's the self-same idiots on TV complaining that the government isn't there right freaking now to take care of them.

I would hazard to guess most of the people here figure Uncle will have a rectal/cranial inversion as has been the case most of the time and prefer to rely on themselves and neighbors/friends to get out of a jam.

Frankly, after a disaster, I won't be worrying about the other guy until this guy is squared away. And the nice government man can go help him if/when he shows up.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

"Even if we say only 20% are prepared that is still 1 person out of 5 who is good to go"

I suspect that those 20% (and I think that's a very high estimate) are people who have made at least some preparation, such as having 5 gallons of extra water in a delivered bottle (practically accidental). I seriously doubt that 20% have gone as far as having even three days of necessities on hand.

I've asked several people here in WA (co-workers) if they've made any preparations, and every single one said 'No'. I asked what their plan was if an earthquake hit that night, and the overall response was, "I guess we'll just sit and wait for someone to bring us water and food". And whine and complain that the delivery wasn't fast enough, the water was flat, and the food wasn't hot pizza and hamburgers, and wondering when the local casino would be open again.

Sue

Most people with a house have a hot water heater, so they have 30 to 50 gallons of water on hand. If you have a neighbor with a pool, you have water for cleaning things, and flushing a toilet if your plumbing is in tack. It is harder for those in an apartment.

Predictions are that SoCal would have little water for three weeks, not three days. After a trial several years ago, I decided that 3 gal of water per person per day was a better estimate of what would be required. I then kept one 55 gallon plastic container per person, plus some smaller containers for water transfer. My wife always complained, until the day we lost water due to a water main break.

I would be fascinating to grab a thousand people at a mall and sit them down to ask specific questions about their actual preparations (if any).

I wonder how many have even considered there would be water available in their water heater? Do they know enough to pull the lower section of a downspout off to collect rainwater into a container?

It would also be interesting if a disaster occurred, to make a point of finding out how people dealt with it, what makeshift plans they came up with, and even more importantly, if that disaster made them more aware of what they should do in the future.

Alas, everyone would be so busy trying to deal with the problems that there wouldn't be anyone with the spare time to take notes.

Sue

I would say 75% or more of Angelenos,are Definitely prepared for some type of Major disaster,Mainly Earthquake's & Rioting!Now for How long of a duration?My household can go for 3-4 weeks,before I start to worry.If we should experience an Earthquake with the possibility of a Firestorm thereafter,then there will probably be Mass Panic of Great Proportion!At that point,I guess Evacuation to the Pacific ocean would be our Best bet.Should there be Tsunami's,Well... They don't call it La Basin for nothing now ,do they?

You've got a more optimistic view of people than I do.

My own impression is that the majority of people have enough food to get through to the next payday, and whatever bottled water is left from the last case they bought. They have no clue how to access the water in a water heater, and think they can drink swimming pool water in an emergency.

Sunday's earthquake made almost no difference in the attitudes around my job. Instead of "Well, they don't happen often, so I've got plenty of time", now it's "Well, now it'll be a long time before we have another one."

If the Baja quake relieved stress on San Andreas that might be true, but I'd have expected to see some sympathetic response out of San Andreas and that fault zone (northeast side of Salton Sea) looks very quiet. I really don't think it did squat with regard to the Big One.