Sue - you made a number of good responses there. You've convinced me that the likely outcome could be even worse than I was expecting. I do get the feeling that most residents of Los Angeles believe that "help will be on the way" - in some fashion. It's not clear that most of them will receive such help in time. It would require an amazing airlift operation - which as you point out may not really be feasible (though I don't want to stop people from trying). I have to believe that death from dehydration, sickness & injuries, and fire/smoke will be leading causes of fatalities in the week(s) after a big quake.

By the way - your point about what is going to happen to the bodies is also well taken. How could they be collected and disposed of by the city authorities? Again ... I think this planning falls through the cracks. In which case the city will smell like a war zone.

The idea of building a special disaster relief center, complete with seismically reinforced runways - is quite interesting. But we would probably need several such zones. And since Los Angeles, like many metropolitan areas, is becoming bankrupt - I'm not sure it's going to happen.

Maybe the option is just to air-drop relief supplies directly into the "war zone" city. And just hope for the best. It's probably a lot better than doing nothing.

cheers,
Pete2