Susan and Rich .... YES it's very likely that all major transportation routes will be down after a BIG quake in L.A. or S.F.. I'm certainly expecting all freeways in L.A. to be closed, and also probably most major roads. Likewise, as you point out it's likely that cracks will develop (maybe big ones!) in long runways.

There are potential solutions to everything - but I just don't see anyone putting together the BIG SOLUTION. I do think that if the current plan is that local cities are going to "piecemeal" their way thru' the crisis" then we're probably going to be toast. But let's look at possible solutions:

1. Airports: Runways get bombed and destroyed during war. The military has "quick-fix" ways of dealing with this ... by patching holes and getting things working again. The question is - does the USA have a plan for how these military teams will be dropped into L.A., San Francisco, Portland or Seattle in the evnt of a major west coast quake? Someone needs to do the damage assessment promptly, and then get these teams moving. These teams could have runways fixed in 3-4 days if this was done right. Otherwise we're looking at 2-4 weeks, and that's way too slow. It CAN be done if people get on the ball.

2. We can bypass C-5 airplanes if we have a fleet of heavy-haul helicopters. So the relief goods from around the USA could be funneled to an airport outside the disaster zone, and then the helo's could carry the supplies to military airports and other designated drop-off points in the disaster zone. BUT once again - the BIG PLAN needs to be figured out now. Advance planning could have this entire network ready to go.

3. I was thinking this morning, while driving to work, that emergency services inside L.A. should have certain major streets designated as "emergency corridors". This means that after the earthquake, everyone focuses on getting these particular streets cleared of rubble, patched up, and running as soon as possible. The idea is not to facilitate civilian traffic - the intention is to be able to mobilize convoys of trucks carrying relief goods. Once again, if some smart thinking was done at the top-level, and the right streets were chosen for clearance, then relief efforts could be faciliated in a major way.

But Sue - you are also right that a threat of major urban breakdown does exist in our large cities ... esp. places like L.A. that have comparatively few sources of drinkable fresh water. I have heard several residents of this city say to me - over the last few months - that they are stockpiling ammo and are willing to defend their own resources with firepower if necessary. So it could indeed get ugly, once people get seriously thirsty and hungry. And this doesn't even include the major problems associated with fires (or firestorms) immediately after the quake, or the problems with broken water mains (hence no H2O for fire trucks), gas mains etc.

And by the way Rich - have to agree with you that the Cascadia subduction zone is also one nasty animal !! :-)

Right now L.A. is overdue for two major earthquales:
1. Newport-Inglewood fault running under many high-density communities in the city.
2. San Andreas southern rupture.

Pete2