Teslinhiker - I do agree that the arrival of major naval ships is likely to help Los Angeles a lot. I'm not sure, though, that the "swing into action" phase can reach people in the first 10 days. so there is a time window there of about a week where ugliness could prevail.

I just read a nice article today by a lady who is a geologist from Oregon. she quoted another eminent seismologist (geophysicist) as saying something like this: "For those cities in the world where the population is high and earthquake risks are real - it would be appropriate to spend as much on 'earthquake defense' as they do on military defense". that's not an exact quote, but that was the meaning. I thought it was a very good comment, and it is applicable to Los Angeles and San Francisco right now. but no-one is doing it.

Pete