Are we prepared?

The disasters in Haiti and Chile make the perennial question all the more relevant - even if no one can offer absolute assurances. The NYT assembles a number of earthquake experts who offer mostly encouraging assessments about California. But...

Many urban apartment buildings in the San Francisco Bay area are "soft-story" construction, prone to collapse and serious damage in strong earthquake shaking. Parallel faults on either side of the Bay are "locked and loaded" and could produce a M7 earthquake at any time that would strongly affect more than six million residents and about $2 trillion value of exposed property. Similarly, Los Angeles is home to many 1960's era "non-ductile" concrete frame residential and commercial buildings also prone to heavy damage in strong shaking -- Mary Lou Zoback, vice president of earthquake risk applications at Risk Management Solutions

Being prepared for this kind of disaster means taking actions now that will reduce the damage that may occur (and therefore the casualties), being ready to react when the shaking starts (drop, cover, and hold on), and having supplies and plans that will reduce the time for recovery. In California, because of stricter building codes and retrofitting of vulnerable buildings and infrastructure throughout the state, we may expect less damage in large earthquakes now than in decades past. Still, there's much to be done. -- Mark Benthien, director for communication, education, and outreach for the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California

The experts seem most concerned about the impact of a moderate earthquake in the Central and Eastern U.S.