Have you already selected an apartment?

How about renting a basement apartment in a single-family home? Or a carriage house? (in DC that is typically an efficiency or one-bedroom at the back of a rowhouse lot.)

With the mortgage crisis so horrendous in California, is it possible to get a sensational rental deal on a single family home? I wonder if banks are doing any rentals on homes they've foreclosed on....

If you haven't signed a lease then there's still time to consider what kind of apartment would be better to withstand the kind of disaster you are most likely to confront where you live. In your case I gather that would be a major earthquake.

I would not wish to be in a high-rise building, period. The Towering Inferno is emblazoned in my psyche. At the least, try to get an apartment on a lower floor (in a building built or retro-fitted with earthquakes in mind). And as has been mentioned in regard to water storage, keep an eye out for an individual water heater. And a balcony that you could cook on with a little Weber grill or some such.

And if you have a balcony (and its usage is not too regulated), there's more space for modest water storage.

As for water storage, I'm fond of 7 gallon Aqua-tainers for camping and home storage. They stack. And they could be carried to your vehicle if you were to bug out.

This change in living situation will be all the more reason to keep your vehicle well-stocked with a case of water bottles and some freeze-dried food or energy bars.

http://www.rei.com/product/618168

Reliance Aqua-Tainer - 7 Gallon
Item # 618168
$16.00