Washington state’s plan for megaquake ‘grossly inadequate,’ review finds

This is big news, since it will be the first time a prediction has been made in the Los Angeles area. See: Risk of big earthquake on San Andreas fault rises after quake swarm at Salton Sea. [Thanks to Pierre Picard for the citation.]

Although the prospect of an earthquake is scary, CA is probably the best prepared state in the nation to deal with earthquakes.  See this CA Earthquake Timeline chart the Diva and others prepared in 2008, which shows the significant mitigation efforts taken.
By the way, if anyone would like to support an updated version of that chart, please let me know.

California ripe for mega earthquake needs early warning system say lawmakers

California is ripe for a mega earthquake and it desperately needs an early warning system, say Members of the US Congress who are urging President Barack Obama to make funds available to make a prototype system that is currently being used at Caltech (California Institute of Technology).

According to Caltech, their system, which would give people those precious seconds to get somewhere safe, could easily be expanded to cover the West Coast if the funds were there.
Many politicians, scientists and members of the public cannot understand why the US Government cannot spend a few million dollars to create a warning system that could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in potential damage because people were not prepared.

Earthquake Investigators Probe Whether Negligence Led to High Death Toll. Efforts at retrofitting buildings and enforcing building codes are being questioned.

From the Seattle Times: We should be screaming’ with outrage: State does little to protect schoolkids from earthquake, tsunami

The Diva wants to highlight the importance of this public apathy by posting this comment from Eric Holdeman, who was the emergency manager for King County, WA for many years and knows the situation first-hand:

“I have personally been buttonholing Washington State legislators on the issues described in the Seattle Times article. There is just no sense of outrage nor sense of urgency on the issue. Everyone thinks it is like many other matters, we’ll get around to it someday when we have the time and money. No one is demanding action, therefore you get what you deserve–inaction on the threat and risks that are not revealed until the ground starts to shake. Collapsed schools, children killed or maimed. A “predictable” surprise!” [Eric blogs at Disaster-Zone.com]

From Humbolt State University, this 17-page document titled Living on Shaky Ground; How to Survive Earthquakes and Tsunamis in No. CA. It is aimed at CA residents, but I think others will find it useful.

From the Homeland Security News Wire: Worries in southern California: San Andreas fault “locked, loaded, and ready to roll

New Congressional Research Service Report on The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP): Issues in Brief

Thanks to Bill Cumming for the citation.