Lucinda, you really had a rough day. However, I think you made such an important point. There are so many needs during an earthquake that will stretch our emergency services to the limit and that it is rather frightening when you think about it. How are so few to take care of so many? I think we should find some kind of volunteer force that can be trained for just these kinds of emergencies and then perhaps the professionals can take care of the bigger more danger problems. Or have one trained professional take a volunteer group and have them work together much like we saw at the Cypress Structure in Oakland. When the professionals realized they couldn't handle so many victims at once they brought in the neighbors who volunteered and made good use of them for a week.

Our fire chief here in Petaluma tried a few years ago to collect some community volunteers for an earthquake emergency. He wanted people to volunteer as block captains and instead of huge numbers calling for assistance, the block captains would report damage and injuries and then in an orderly way, everyones needs would be attended to. I went to the meeting and found about 10 others there. A real disappointment. Needless to say, we don't have any block captains yet. Next week he and I will sit down and he's going to show me the city's disaster plan. I know very little about these preparations and want to know how everything is orchestrated. It will be very interesting to learn.

I am tremendously relieved the Mexico earthquake was not like Turkey or Taiwan. However, it gives me more uncertainty today than ever, that sooner or later our turn is going to come and I pray we should be so fortunate. Tomorrow starts our traditional "earthquake month" in the Bay Area, it would be wonderful if it passed like the past nine and we have nothing memorable in the way of earthquake statistics.

This weekend I plan on more field study at the Rodgers Creek Fault and on Sunday a geology field trip to the Earthquake Trail and out to Point Reyes. I love the field trips and work, they are a real fascination for me. I have a real desire to dig a trench before winter arrives.

From the East Side of The Fault Line..Pat in Petaluma