I was already awake this morning, coughing from a cold, so I went downtown to meet friends for the predawn centennial commemoration of the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire which destroyed San Francisco.

After the wreath laying and a few speeches we left to find breakfast. Walking away a speaker got to the podium and said something like, "So you've all been to 72hours.org web site and are ready for the big one..." and one of my friends responded "in your dreams we have."

Over breakfast we did talk about being ready for "the big one", but for all the information we're being bombarded with about "being ready" as someone who doesn't own a home or office building I can seismically retrofit, I feel more helpless in an earthquake than ever.

I've lived my entire life in California, growing up with earthquakes. I lived in the South Bay during the '89 Loma Prietta earthquake and there is not a lot I can do as an individual when the double-decked freeways and bridges collapse. The Emperor Norton Bay Bridge has still not been replaced and last year the Governor just added to the delay by stopping construction to see if it could be redesigned cheeper.

There are a number of schools in San Francisco which are except from earthquake safety standards because of their age and historic building status, and while 72hours.org has a section for home safety, but there's no section for public buildings that are not earthquake safe.

I'll certainly be there trying to help dig trapped school children out of the rubble if the worst comes to pass, but I feel like a burden is being put on me instead of the public officials who should be doing more themselves.