Least surprising headline: "L.A. quake could be worse than Katrina"

If LA has a really bad earthquake and it takes a while for the feds to respond, it will all be George W. Bush's fault (IABF-It's All Bush's Fault) implies this AP article reported on the CNN website here.

As many as 18,000 people dead. More than $250 billion in damages. Hundreds of thousands of people left homeless.

That's not the latest estimate of Hurricane Katrina's toll on the Gulf Coast. That's a worst-case scenario if a major earthquake were to hit Los Angeles.

The figures are hypothetical, from a model published in May by government researchers studying the Puente Hills fault under the city.

Scientists warn that there's little doubt a major quake will hit California in coming years or decades, though many scenarios are not as disastrous as Puente Hills.

As was the case with Katrina, experts say the federal government hasn't done enough to prepare.

I guess the State of Califiornia and the City of Los Angeles, the City of San Francisco (and the surrounding cities) might have to do some work on their own... although

California has instituted new building codes and spent billions to shore up old structures in the wake of the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 and the Northridge earthquake of 1994, which, before Katrina, was the nation's costliest natural disaster with $40 billion in losses.

In 2002, California had the world's 5th largest economy, ahead of France, Italy, China, Brazil and Canada and just behind the United Kingdom.

Never mind self help - just say IABF!