Bacpacjac ... I have seen exactly the same things happen out here in L.A. A lot of building has taken place in regions by the San Andreas fault line - it just doesn't make any sense at all. I used to live in the community of Lancaster/Palmdale (CA) which is one of the groups of towns that are on the fault line. In the old days, there were not so many houses, and the buildings were some distance from the fault. But then more people started moving there in the 80's, 90's and the last decade - it became a bedroom community for Los Angeles. Many people commute now. And you can find a lot of homes and 2-story apartments built within half a mile of this major fault line. It is INSANE. But the real estate developers just didn't give a cr*p, and people tend to mentally tune out the danger.

I just checked the latest predictions from the US geological folks (USGS) last week. I reviewed their maps really carefully. A lot of these towns beside the San Andreas fault are going to be TOAST if we get a big quake. That includes Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Banning, Littlerock & Valyermo, Palmdale, Lancaster. And other places.

I just don't know what to say about this aspect of human behavior. It's some horrible combination of greed, stupidity, and short-term thinking.

Pete #2