Word of warning for those on the fault line [View all]

[Auggie]

I had been judging quake intensity due to past experiences such as the '89 Loma Prieta quake when I lived in San Francisco and a few 5.0 and under Bay Area rollers from several few years before.

Because of those experiences I thought I knew pretty much what to expect if a quake were to happen. But the one yesterday on August 24th, in Napa County, was an eye-opener. We live pretty much on top of the epicenter. At 6.0 the motion was far more powerful than I thought imaginable from that magnitude.

The point is, if you're close to a fault line, even a relatively "mild" trembler is going to toss you around pretty good and have the potential to cause serious damage.

Anything bigger is going to wreak real havoc, especially centered near San Francisco, Oakland, Orange County or L.A.

So ... a word of advice: be and stay prepared.