Things could be worse for San Francisco itself with a rupture that begins south of the city, than it was in 1906 when the rupture began very close to it.

It's not that the ground motions in 1906 were significantly larger than those in 1989it's that the area experiencing intense shaking was much, much greater. We don't know if the next rupture will look like 1906 earthquake, but we know that many of the same areas hit hard in 1906, like San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and the Santa Cruz mountains will be hit hard again in the next large earthquake on the San Andreas Fault .

We want to emphasize that a large earthquake such as 1906 is not just a San Francisco quake, but a Northern California earthquake. Earthquakes greater than magnitude 7 are going to cause intense shaking over a large area everyone needs to be prepared.

It's not that the ground motions in 1906 were significantly larger than those in 1989—it's that the area experiencing intense shaking was much, much greater. We don't know if the next rupture will look like 1906 earthquake, but we know that many of the same areas hit hard in 1906, like San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and the Santa Cruz mountains will be hit hard again in the next large earthquake on the San Andreas Fault .

I'd be under the nearest table the second I felt the first shudder.

We want to emphasize that a large earthquake such as 1906 is not just a San Francisco quake, but a Northern California earthquake. Earthquakes greater than magnitude 7 are going to cause intense shaking over a large area — everyone needs to be prepared.