Don't forget fresh water - estimates on the local seiche from a 9.0M EQ has Lake Washington sloshing up to 18 feet back and forth, back and forth, wiping out shore line residents (and the cross-lake floating bridges). Its another low probability but high (proximate) risk event, which doesn't stop me from taking either bridge nearly every day.

I prep more for a house fire than I used to because I see more of them these days - not in terms of rescue hoods to play a hero, but planning and preparing to get my family out ASAP. Car accidents are actually more prevalent, both to experience one or several in one's lifetime but also to come upon them and possibly assist victims. I've done that 4 times now - mostly blunt trauma injuries and broken bones.

For the low probability but high risk events in life, I subscribe to the all hazards approach - if you're ready for a [EQ/zombie attack/attack of vampire vultures] you are better prepared for smaller and more common disasters. For me realistically that means floods, landslides, and power outages. Hardly sexy stuff, but its what we get most days around home. The CDC apparently agrees, they came out with an interesting Zombie Prep campaign that is intended tongue in cheek to get people better prepared for life's actual emergencies: http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies.htm

"What first began as a tongue in cheek campaign to engage new audiences with preparedness messages has proven to be a very effective platform. We continue to reach and engage a wide variety of audiences on all hazards preparedness via Zombie Preparedness; and as our own director, Dr. Ali Khan, notes, 'If you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack.'"

You can download posters and novellas and even order t-shirts to celebrate the zombie prep campaign - driving home the point that somewhere among all this preparedness you might as well have a sense of humor, especially since humor can motivate people to receive learning about basic preparedness in a way that more serious information campaigns may not (its our old amygdalae messing with us again).