A “KATRINA-STYLE” CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE DISASTER is overdue. Actually, I’d say a major earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area would be a lot worse than Katrina.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I analyze disasters for a living, and while your comment about a San Francisco quake being a bigger disaster than Katrina might well be true, I believe of even bigger concern is a Midwest quake.

We know that the San Francisco area can generate quakes around magnitude 8.0. But the region is very active, and building codes and response procedures are well tested; also, quakes in California tend to be
relatively localized.

The New Madrid region, centered around New Madrid, Missouri, has generated some of the largest quakes to hit the U.S. back in 1811 – 1812. Since the region has been so stable in the meantime, building code enforcement is largely unknown, and response procedures are poorly developed and largely untested. In addition, the nature of the area produces much lower rates of attenuation, so the area affected by high severity shaking would be much larger.

I agree. I believe I’ve blogged on that before. As I’ve noted before, the last big New Madrid earthquake actually damaged buildings here in Knoxville, many hundreds of miles away. A reason to take building codes and disaster preparedness more seriously wherever you live.