With all the goings-on of the last couple of weeks–the election, prop 8, the economy, the season finale of Mad Men–I somehow missed the big Shake Out. The facts are this: At 10 AM this morning, millions of Californians participated in a 7.8 magnitude-earthquake drill. According to seismologists, the San Andreas Fault, which is that really REALLY big fault line in California, tends to let an an insanely big shaker loose every 150 years or so. The last one happened 150 years ago, which means that us current Californians might be living in the age of the next big one.

The scenario presented at the Shake Out website offers these details:

An earthquake of this size will cause unprecedented damage to Southern California—greatly dwarfing the massive damage that occurred in Northridge’s 6.7-magnitude earthquake in 1994. In summary, the ShakeOut Scenario estimates this earthquake will cause some 2,000 deaths, 50,000 injuries, $200 billion in damage and other losses, and severe, long-lasting disruption. The report has regional implications and is a dramatic call to action for preparedness.”

The web site also says that a 7.8 earthquake will probably last for 1-2 minutes with after shocks!

So what do I think about this disaster preparation? Considering the world’s rotten luck in the last few years: Katrina, the tsunami, that huge earthquake in India and Pakistan and etc., thinking ahead isn’t such a bad idea. We Californians like to mock earthquake newbies, but the truth of the matter is that we live in a kind of dangerous state–we have earthquakes and wildfires, mudslides and volcanoes, heatwaves and floods and much more. Whatever we can do has just got to be better than nothing, and it always feels better to know you’re being extra cautious when doing so with a couple million other people.