The sky is falling, the sky is falling!
I've been through some of the worst quakes in Cali, been through the Sylmar in '70 or '71, Whitier in the late 80s, Northridge in '94ish, etc...in the Northridge quake I lived 5 miles from the epicenter. More damage done 30 miles away where I worked, next to the Santa Monica Airport, where our building was condemned. I had earthquake insurance, didn't file a claim, but had my policy canceled...the deductible is so high, they are useless except in the case of a total or very high value loss.
I don't think you can prepare for them, there will be a certain amount of machines that are either mobile for some, being on caster, or just not easily secured. If my mill or lathe fall over it's gonna be one of the last things on my mind if I'm in the house.
Ok, so what's it like to be in a big quake? The works rocks and rolls for a minute or two, which seems like an hour when your in the middle of it. After the Northridge quake me and my wife had no dishes, and nothing from the cabinets in the kitchen. In fact, some of the cabinet doors got ripped off the cabinets...TV and furniture were toppled in the living room, you couldn't walk in the house. The earthqake hit at 3:30am or 4:30am, all power was out for 2 days. No lights, broken glass everywhere, all of your belongings seem to be waste...
But guess what? Yep, we made it through it, got our life back together, moved away from L.A. the following year and haven't looked back. Could happen where we're at now, in NorCal...earthquake faults run everywhere in CA...you can't get away from them no matter where you go.
I've watched a pool throw water in the air 35 feet high in the Sylmar quake as a kid.
Roger Waters did an alblum in '92 called "Amused to Death". If you liked Pink Floyd, you'll love this album. Anyway, one of the main songs on the album was a song named "What God Want...".
"What God wants, God gets, God help us all..."
(found the video, Beck's guitar is so tasty...)
Interpret as you may:
You can certainly do what you can to avoid your loss in case of an earthquake. But if God wants it, he will take everything along with your life.
There will always be more machines. There will always be another shop. We can always rebuild and move on with life...that is until we loose our own life...insurance is the best thing to have if it will cover you...it is for disasters after all...
That said, why is it that most all people could care less about their health? More are worried about materialistic things rather than our very own health. Why do we let companies like Monsanto ruin our environment at our own expense? Your life is the most important thing in the world, don't waste it.