It’s been so long since we’ve had strong seismic activity in the Bay Area that I’d wager most that have moved here in past two decades (hi!) don’t have all their bookshelves/etc bolted to the wall, breakables secured with quake-hold, shoes under bed, etc… not to mention proper supplies for significant infrastructure damage. I know I caught myself being complacent earlier this year after I reorganized all of our stemware and whisky/etc to a glass cabinet next one of our two exit paths. It would have been an a guaranteed 20-30 lbs of glass shards thoroughly blocking that path. But hey, I’ll admit I have cinema-induced-paranoia about two things: 1) being trapped barefoot with glass covered floors, and 2) potential for velociraptor ingress.

The only people who believe this advice haven't been in an earthquake or government workers who have to justify their existence by coming up with such nonsense, you know, like all the "don't do drugs" messaging and whatever they hand out at the DMV.

The last large quake I experienced was the Northridge quake. I lived very near to the epicenter at the time. It was 4:31 AM. I remember exactly because stayed up all night coding. I felt a strong tug. I immediately thought "this is a big one".

Next image I have in my head was me floating four feet up in the air and all my books up in the air with me (I had bookcases full of books on three walls). The lights went out, we fell to the ground and the powerful shaking started. When it all stopped, books covered the entire floor, it was a mess.

Floating four feet up in the air?

Yes!

The quake had a very strong vertical component. As it pushed up, it compressed the air cylinder right under me (part of the desk chair). That cylinder and the reversal of motion was enough to launch me vertically. My cars were launched into the air and collided with each other...on the driveway. The whole thing was insane.

"Drop, cover and hold on"? Yeah, right.

Don't get me wrong, running around like a maniac isn't smart at all. Keep your wits about you, stand under a doorway or something with decent structural support and assess from there. That is, if you are able to. Sometimes, as was the cased with Northridge, you don't have time for anything. People had entire buildings collapse onto them while in bed.

It's not like the death of the sun or heat death of universe where it's a billion years outside of your lifetime, it's going to happen in your lifetime.

The "oh well what can you do" response leads me to believe we aren't going to do a damn thing about runaway climate change.

When the ground stops moving, then you have a chance at purposeful motion.

It punched above its weight because the epicenter was closer to San Francisco than usual.

Let people have their moments together, they don't need you to approve it

https://youtu.be/3Yz2RC9C1tM?feature=shared