Very few people die from earthquakes in California.

Don't believe me? Let's look at the last earthquake to hit a major metropolitan area in California. The 1994 Northridge earthquake had strength 6.7 and hit the San Fernando Valley. It was the most costly quake in US history - about $20 billion in damage. What was the death toll? 57.

We were lucky with the timing - if it had happened during business hours, hundreds of people could have died.

For comparison a similar sized earthquake hit a major city in Iran in 2003. 40,000 people died.

If you want a good comparison, think "automobile accident". That does kill a lot of people. In fact living in Los Angeles I am far more concerned with the chance of dying in a traffic accident than I am with the chance of dying by earthquake.

Cheers,
Ben