I totally agree it's possible to be prepared, but if you're talking about the earthquake I'm thinking about from May - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/sh

I totally agree it's possible to be prepared, but if you're talking about the earthquake I'm thinking about from May - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/shakemap/global/shake/b000q9sv/ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/shakemap/global/shake... - I don't think it's a great example, since the epicenter was pretty far from central Tokyo and also quite deep (153km) so at the surface it wasn't particularly strong. Apart from being centered very close to Napa this earthquake was also fairly shallow (10km) so it was significantly more intense (albeit in a small, not heavily populated area) even though it was of the same magnitude. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/shakemap/nc/shake/72282711/ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/shakemap/nc/shake/722... (I say that based on the numbers, not having first-hand experience with either quake)