Chile Earthquake: Hint of 'Big One' for USA?

As the dust settles after the Chile earthquake, which tilted the Earth on its axis, trepidation grows in the USA over whether or not "the Big One" is on the way.

• Chile Earthquake Pictures Show Widespread Devastation
• Chile Earthquake Death Toll, Disaster Relief & Charity Effort

Following so closely upon the heels of the Haiti earthquake, the Chile earthquake is ressurecting the spectre of city-leveling earthquakes on US soil- we're thinking of San Francisco here. A Bay Area native myself, I remember the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and the damage done to the City. The Loma Prieta quake was 6.9 on the Richter scale; by comparison, Chile's 8.8 earthquake and Haiti's 7.0 earthquake were far more severe.

So, what can we do about it? Rebuilding San Francisco is just not going to happen, so the planning has to be around stabilizing what can be stabilized (the Marina district is built on landfill, for example), and having some sort of efficient evacuation plan.

Also key would be knowing how to get vital supplies and personnel into the city. Same with somewhere like Los Angeles. I point out SF and LA because California has such a storied history of earthquakes.

 

If our idea of "preparation" is how we treated the potential flooding of New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approached, then please forgive my lack of faith on this one: existing emergency systems worldwide weren't much use: Japan's tsunami warning was too shrill, while Chile's was nonexistent.