Hi Petra. One of the main reasons the people of the United States aren’t prepared for a disaster such as what was seen at the World Trade Center is that most people can’t accept the fact that it could happen the way it did.

Six years ago I attended a meeting at a place on the East Coast for the purpose of identifying potential targets and how, or what weapon might be used. There were two people there who suggested the World Trade Center and the method that would be used. No one with the exception of a few could accept that. They said that it was to far-fetched and that the average terrorist lacked the skills to pilot a plane into a building and even if they did have the skills there is nothing we could do to prevent it.

The same reasons apply to the average person when told to prepare for a major quake. Most people have never been in a major quake in the area they live so most can’t accept the fact that one could occur in the area they live in. They turn a blind side to it so in affect that if they don’t think about it it won’t disrupt their lives for something that may not happen in their lifetime.

How often have you read stories about hurricanes and some of the people having hurricane parties?

The average person today has needs that have to be attended to now. They can’t be concerned about a major quake that may not occur in their immediate area in their lifetime. There are many who feel that if one does occur the Government will take care of them. What some don’t realize is that the Government is also going too affected by that same major quake and isn’t going to be able to take care of them.

A major case in point was the Kobe, Japan quake. No one there was prepared for that quake because no one there felt that a quake of that magnitude could occur there. When we had our Northridge quake the Japanese Government said that would not occur there, because they had built there structures to with stand a quake of that magnitude. Well we know that the structures they built didn’t survive the quake. The people were also told that the Government would be there to help them. That was probably the biggest disaster the people had to face simply because it took the Government more then 3 days to get into the area to assist the people. The infrastructure in Kobe was so badly damaged that it couldn’t be used. To a certain extent that same mentality exist here today. If something like that should occur here the Government will take care of it. After all that is what we pay them to do. That mentality is the biggest disaster of all.

A past Mayor of San Francisco was once asked how were they prepared to handle the fires that would most likely occur in San Francisco in major quake. He said they had pact with the surrounding cities to assist them. I wonder who was going to fight the fires in the surrounding cities if they were in San Francisco fighting the fires there? Take Care…Don in creepy town