Hi Petra. It's too bad that so many people learn what they need in a disaster after the fact. When the people that live in the house next to mine moved here from North Carolina, I mentioned something about preparedness to them. They asked me what I had and I showed them some of the basics. They said they were going to buy a couple of the 72 hour support units and stock up on some water. I guess they hadn't gotten around to it when the Nisqually quake struck. I talked to them that evening and they were much more sincere about getting what they would need to keep themselves and their two children safe and comfortable when the next quake strikes.

They do discuss quake safety around here periodically, not just when disaster strikes. Every so often we get reminders on the news or in the paper that "the BIG one" will be here one of these days and it will be horrendous. I got some flyer in the mail awhile back that discussed anchoring things and quake safety. I wish I had kept it so that I could tell you who published it.

If you get even ONE person to be more prepared and to make their home a safer place, then you have done a great job. It would be nice to be able to reach a lot of people all at once and actually have them pay attention, but like you said people tend to pay closer attention after their home has been tipped onto it's side :-)