One of the more interesting cultural details about living in Northern California is experiencing and “preparing for an earthquake”:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/earthquakes/archive/ready.dtl&type=printable. Experiencing one is easy: it just happens, it’s usually over before you know what it is (if you’re lucky), but it’s disconcerting as hell.
The biggest one I’ve felt and was actually aware of was a 3.9 centered in Gilroy, which is about an hour south of where I live. It felt like a semi going about 20 mph outside your living room. You kind of just stand there wondering why the cat is going bonkers and your bookshelves are shaking. Then the light goes on, it dawns on you and then it’s over. Thankfully.
Being prepared was still not so much a priority (as important as it is, it’s a gigantic pain in the ass to get this stuff together in _two_ separate locations) until we saw the results of the _great job_ the federal government did in response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Since then it’s become more a matter of _what brand of bottled 20 gallon water jugs to put into the kit_ and _let’s put Cliff Bars in since they taste better than Power Bars_ than _let’s sit on our ass and hope for the best_.
