Don, I thought that the statement you quoted was fairly clear by itself. In case it was not, what I was saying is that in my opinion, many elected and appointed government officials are being irresponsible by not doing what they should be doing to protect our cities from earthquakes etc. And they are using statements made by some scientists that “Earthquakes can’t be predicted” as an excuse to justify their irresponsible behavior.

Regarding safer housing, I am strongly in favor of that.

From what I have heard, one of the least expensive and most productive ways to add safety to a house is to install these L shaped steel reinforcing plates which join important wood beams together. In many cases the beams will have been nailed directly together. And that bond can fail during an earthquake.

You are undoubtedly familiar with the sound that a nail makes when you pull it out of a board. I myself have never been in a powerful earthquake. But I seem to remember that quite a while ago someone posting notes here described in detail what it was like to survive one. I believe that he said that while he was waiting for the house to stop shaking he could hear that sound as the nails holding the place together got pulled out of the boards by the movement. In my own mind I could picture that happening and hearing that sound. It certainly made an impression!

Regarding the Kobe earthquake, I was under the impression that most of the housing damage resulted from the fires which followed the earthquake. Some firefighters could not get into the area because fleeing people crowed the streets. And others who did make it into the area could not extinguish the fires because underground water lines had burst. I believe that this demonstrates the need to both forecast earthquakes and develop effective evacuation plans.