Perhaps another lesson or two:

Decent infrastructure helps, as does relatively competent government agencies.

The Northridge quake was rated as a 6.7, somewhat weaker than the current Haiti event - a 7.0 I believe. But there is a stunning difference in fatalities. 72 fatalities are attributed to the Northridge event, the most spectacular of which was a motorcycle patrolman hurrying along the freeway predawn and finding a collapsed bridge the hard way.

Hospitals were damaged and the systems was stressed, resulting in the passage of remedial legislation, but unrest was minimal.

And yes, I am sure there was a lot of neighborly help. Thank God for that. Nobody is closer at hand than your neighbor.

Pete, while you are at the store, get two wrecking bars and stash them in different places. One good spot is under the bed.