People here in the SF bay area think that cities will implode like it's the apocalypse when a major earthquake happens. But that never actually happens, and only approaches it in developing countries. Most buildings in the USA can withstand a major earthquake due to building code regulations. I bet if the SFBA had a major earthquake, not counting a tsunami, at most about 5000 non elderly adults would die, which is a miniscule number in a metro area of ~7.5 million.