You could look on the bright side - if you don't have earthquake insurance and your house burns after the quake then you are insured! :-) Chances are if the quake is really large enough to do damage to the gas pipes then people will be awake when any fires start.

We had to replace one of our gas lines here a few months back due to a gas leak (original installers used the rwong type of line for the gas and it corroded) - when we had the line replaced we added an automatic shut-off valve.

At the very least I hope people do know how to turn off the gas lines to their home - Even if the gas company did shut down the lines there's lots of gas in the system so it wouldn't really help. I guess the worry is that when the gas comes back on it can kill even without the fire if the pilots don't get lit. Even worse damage can be done if homes have explosions due to gas coming back on and pilots not lit. Huge liability issues concerning asphixiation and explosions.

Canie