Moving to CA from the East Coast, I used to think that earthquakes were fairly exiting. We had an earthquake in New Hampshire when I was growing up - 2.5 and it scared half the state senseless. Living now in Oakland, it's quite common to feel small trembles now and again. Usually, they don't register as anything more than a gentle swaying for a few seconds or an occasional quick shudder.
However, if you ascribe to the pressure release theories of earthquakes, then Northern California is overdue for another big one. Now that this has happened in Japan, I can't help but wonder what the Pacific plate is doing on this side of the ocean. Having been on the West Coast for 6 years, I've adopted the more native resident perspective on earthquakes: less fun, more inevitable.
Glad to hear that no-one was killed in Japan, but it seems like they also have a lot more experience dealing with earthquakes (and the periodic beastie escaping from Monster Island) then even the West Coast of the U.S. My partner spent some time over in Kyoto, and she would describe fairly sophisticated earthquake safety measures used by the town, public buildings, and some private citizens.
No-one spends their day thinking about the next Big One, but when it does happen all you can really hope for is that there's still at least some roof over your head, your pets are all safe, and not all your stuff is completely destroyed (probably in that order, too).
I like to think that just as many countries flock to the aid of places destroyed by natural disasters, that when the Big One comes over here in the U.S. we'll have at least some tiny remaining good will towards us in the world that we could get help if we needed it...
