If you believe in stereotypes and myths, Southern California is pleasant and people are leisurely.

lie.

The conditions are very bad. The wind and dry terrain trigger one disaster after another. Any person who is not nervous either deny or take sedatives or become tenants.

Until January 7, The fire began to destroy thousands of buildingsAnd took at least 28 life. I was most worried about living in California. This was due to the trip to San Andreas with Dr. Lucy Jones in 2017.

I follow the mark Jones tried to convince the public officials in Southern California on the two bus believes that the "big disaster" is coming. They need to update the architectural specifications and take other measures to cope with a historic disaster.

Jones and other earthquakers said near Palm Springs that if a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred, the ground under our feet moved. Within 10 seconds, the distance between people standing on both sides of the faults will reach 30 feet. As far as Los Angeles, buildings will collapseLife will be lost, the economy will be shaken, and millions of people will lose power and water for several months.

I went home to hire an earthquake safety engineer to strengthen my house. Since then, I have bought seismic insurance. None of these can make you completely at ease.

Last week, I bought an electric pump with a 50 -foot hose so that I could use the water from the swimming pool during the fire to protect my house. I did this after I met a policeman in Altadine. He took me to his backyard and showed me his pump. When the embers fell, he used it to protect his and neighbor's home.

It took me three hours to force the hose to install the pump spray, but I couldn't tighten it firmly. I imagine that when the flame was approaching, the engine could not be started. When the flame finally got angry, the hose flew out of the pump, the fuel tank exploded, and the entire block was burned. I feel safe? Not too safe?

To sleep well in Los Angeles, you can't think of these things. You must avoid the reality of risk.

This is the real threat.

In the final analysis, human nature is our fatal weakness.

Whether I said, this is a convenient placebo in the natural disaster laboratory. I mean the lack of preparations and plans, whether it is ready for seismic tools or cleaning bushes.

In this regard, California is not alone. For example, the coastal areas of Florida suffered a hurricane attack again and again, but they couldn't wait to rebuild each time, as before as before. As a country, we dilute the role played by each of us in the contact between climate change and disaster, and at the same time play the call of our country's leaders' "exercises, babies, exercises" on TV.

Jones and me talked about this complex relationship between danger and human psychology a few days ago. She has studied for many years and studied "all research on psychology and behavioral economics -how people make risk decisions" Essence

Many times, they decide not to make a decision.

Among all cities in San Andreas in 2017, many cities have not adopted the necessary earthquake safety upgrades. Jones estimates that about 6 million residents in Los Angeles County live in a place where there is reasonable protection, while about 4 million residents do not.

Jones did not limit her public education activities to the earthquake. In 2023, Dr. Lucy Jones Science and the Social Center produced a guide called "Return to Restore: The Challenge of the Face of California Wasteen Fire".

Among them, she studied the dynamics of heaven and Camp fire, Greenwell Dicki fire, Bart's bear fire, and Ventura Wulils. The lesson is that the community must act like a community before the disaster, consider the needs of the most vulnerable residents, and let the appropriate person be responsible.

"Emergency management is not just a response," Jones concluded in the report. "It developed recovery power before the disaster, responded effective during the disaster, and quickly recovered after the disaster."

In the past two weeks, we have learned that despite many firefighters and others have made great efforts, we still need to improve in each field.

Jones used the letters WUI as the abbreviation of the city interface of the wasteland. Los Angeles has thousands of acres of land, including the bottom of the Palisid and San Gaobo Mountains. Jones said that if it is properly handled, building a building in the WUI location may be safe, but if there is no "thoughtful discussion ... because our fire risk risks", this should not happen.

Yes, after several months of drought, the risks are so high that these fires seem to erupt every hour.

However, the earthquake will not wait until San Anna wind or drought occurs. This threat continues.

"My worst nightmare is to put the two together," Jones said. "There was an earthquake when we were in San Anna."

Now I can't sleep anymore.

In the first one or two days, as the fire spread, I thought it might be time to clean up everything and moved to a safer place. But I am not sure if there is such a place in the world. As the number of casualties caused by the fire caused by Eaton and Palishaz's fire continued to increase, I found that I became more ingrained.

this Lucy Jones talked about and argued that recovery power was written On January 8th, the "Community DNA" was displayed at the Passadina Conference Center. The evacuation personnel gathered forces to deal with losses and uncertainty, and service organizations came forward, and volunteers were also invested.

My social worker Friends who lose their homeland After many years in the Altidina's unpaid, he vowed to rebuild everything he lost in sadness, which gave me a deeper connection and humility. Anthony Ruffin bought the house from his stepfather, and his stepfather moved to western Aldadina in 1972. At that time, most of the regions in Los Angeles were banned from entering. He missed the house and nearby and planned to rebuild in that place.

Selfless Staff of the nursing home of the patients who bravely evacuate patientsAnd the generosity of the Altadine family, they shared their love for home and neighbors, all of which made me even more attached to the real Southern California -a South California that surpassed myths and stereotypes.

Attachment is to realize that we must assume responsibility for land, earth, survival, and each other.

steve.lopez@latimes.com