Hi All. Could the San Andreas, Rodgers Creek, Hayward and the San Gregorio fault all go at the same time? The answer to that is a cautious yes. Take Care…Don in creepy town

Scientists say they have learned key lessons from the deadly earthquake in Turkey that could save lives along the country's North Anatolian fault and its California twin, the San Andreas.

The earthquake leveled much of Izmit, where the epicenter was located, then jumped over nearby Lake Sabanca, to resume its devastating path of destruction in the city of Golcuk on the other side. Lakeside homes toppled into the water, but scientists say the lake itself was unaffected.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Hayward fault stops at San Pablo Bay, and the Rogers Creek fault begins on the other side, about three miles away. Scientists consider them separate breaks.

Taken from a study done in 1997 by Woodward-Clyde Federal Services located in Oakland.

(The Pinole fault in the northeastern San Francisco Bay area, formerly believed to be inactive, has had a history of repeated movement during the last 10,000 years. The Pinole fault may be a potential linking structure between the active Hayward and Rodgers Creek faults, thereby significantly increasing the potential rupture length and, hence, the maximum earthquake which may be generated by these faults. This investigation involves detailed mapping and analysis of the landforms along the Pinole fault in order to better understand its activity and prehistoric earthquake behavior.) The Pinole fault in located in the San Pablo Bay between the Hayward and the Rodgers Creek fault.

"Can those two faults rupture at once? Two weeks ago we would have said it is unlikely. Now, we can say it is likely," Andy Michael, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., said in telephone interview.

The other unexplained event was the quake's apparent skipping from the North Anatolian to the nearby Duzce fault. San Andreas is shadowed by the San Gregorio fault, just off the shore of the San Francisco Bay.

"Could an event on the San Andreas move to the San Gregorio?" Michael asked, adding that what is most worrisome is that "this quake has done things that others haven't."

In 1906, a single rupture on a 300-mile segment of the San Andreas caused the great San Francisco earthquake. But that 7.9-magnitude quake did not ignite the San Gregorio.

• Bay Area Faults