I agree with you on a number of important points. The estimate of deaths is probably pretty good for So Cal. Something in the region of 2000 dead, and 50,000 injured. I see the problem areas as being the "bedroom" communities that are located beside the San Andreas. Unfortunately, these so called-bedroom areas of LA are not just bedrooms any more. They have grown to become full-scale communities in their own right. So places like Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio, Beaumont, Redlands, San Bernadino, Hesperia, Palmdale ... all these towns have seen a large amount of building. And ironically, it means that large numbers of people are living within 5-10 miles of the San Andreas. And a surprising number of people are living, or having daily activities, right on top of it. It is madness really. But it is human nature - big quakes are so rare.

I absolutely agree that the USA is vastly better prepared than Nepal. I am confident that over the long term, the relief effort will be massive and much help will come to LA. As I wrote before, I am more concerned about the short-term psychological reaction of people in LA. And really, the major problem is that few of these people have followed the advisories and put enough water aside to last for a few weeks. That is really the main thing that people need to do to survive. One step!

I really like your idea of a Special Access Team with bulldozers. I think they might also need some bridge-building equipment to get over deep chasms in the ground. Organizations like the Army Corp of Engineers and the Navy SeaBees would be absolutely perfect for this. It would be tremendously helpful if Washington DC had a fast-response plan to mobilize these people.

For example, they just tell the Army Corp of Engineers ... "we want you to re-establish a new access road coming from the east, starting at Arizona (town of Quartzite) and going all the way to the heart of LA. Use existing roads as much as possible, clear all debris from your route, build bridges if you have to, and do what it takes to connect to downtown LA".

Likewise they tell the SeaBees ... "we want you to establish ONE new access road coming from the south, starting at Yuma, Arizona, and going all the way into LA. Use existing roads as much as possible, clear all debris from your route, build bridges if you have to, and do what it takes to connect to downtown LA".

That kind of activity would save a LOT of lives. But these teams would need to be mobilized very fast!! And they would need a lot of equipment to get the job done.

Probably the big unknown for LA is the potential of large-scale fires. It was a major problem for San Francisco during the 1906 quake. I think it will also be a major problem - and frightening - for some areas of LA. As residential values have shot up, many developers have built apartment blocks. High-density housing exists in many suburbs. And So Cal is very dry because of the long-term drought. So the fire risk is very real.

I have been watching what happened in Nepal. And to be perfectly honest, I was really wishing I could get over there to help people. They got some immediate aid within the first month. But I think the statistics say that they have only received something like 15-20% of the assistance they need to recover. I think that will be "typical" for global emergencies in the future.

Places like Katmandu (quake) and New Orleans (hurricane) teach us an important lesson. Sooner or later that "Big Disaster" really will come along. People talk about it, and they ignore it for a long time. But it does come eventually.

Pete