I think if everyone knew to shut off the gas after a strong earthquake, it would greatly help. But the fact is that not everyone knows to do this. And if everyone shut off the gas, the gas company would have the same problem with relighting the pilot lights. Note that they say to only shut if off if you smell it, which I would think it may be too late to do so. After the Northridge quake, the gas company did NOT shut off the mains. There was a rupture of a main line running thru a street, which caused a fire that burned for 4 hours before they got it shut off. These main lines are high pressure/volume lines, nothing compared to the regulated lines running into your house. I didn’t hear of any residential fires caused by local line breaks. Luckily no houses were in danger. I don’t believe the impact of relighting pilot lights justifies the risk of loss of life. I don’t worry very much about damage to my home due to an earthquake, I’m well prepared. But I do worry about the aftermath of possible fires, which could be prevented.