NEW MADRID REDUX: The Pentagon’s Quake Nightmare.

“Electric power would go out, not for days, but for weeks and months in the four state region,” he said. “Municipal water systems, they all run on electricity, don’t they? Well, people are gonna get thirsty. You need water for firefighting, don’t you? Second, all gasoline pumps run on electric power. Same with diesel fuel. So in terms of road mobility, of getting the relief forces in, and evacuating people out — no gasoline? The cascading failures go on and on.”

Harden the systems now. Every gas station should have a generator adequate to power at least one or two pumps. (And there’ll be plenty of gas!) Also, old gas pumps used to have a handcrank behind the panel. New ones, as far as I know, don’t. Maybe that’s a bad design?

Meanwhile, this is another reason to engage in disaster preparedness at home. The government won’t be there in a hurry.