Earthquakes
California has many active faults, so households should plan for shaking, falling objects, broken utilities, damaged roads, and short-notice disruption.
West preparedness
California Disaster Preparedness Guide
California households prepare for a wide range of hazards, from earthquakes and wildfires to heat waves, flooding, landslides, power outages, drought, and coastal tsunami risk. Preparedness in California works best when it is local, practical, and updated before seasonal conditions change.
Preparedness overview
California’s size, geography, climate, coastline, mountains, forests, valleys, deserts, and dense urban areas create many different preparedness needs. Earthquake planning matters across much of the state. Wildfire and smoke planning are important for many inland, foothill, mountain, and wind-prone communities. Atmospheric rivers and winter storms can bring flooding, landslides, debris flows, and travel disruptions, especially near burn scars, steep slopes, rivers, and low-lying areas. Extreme heat and drought can affect daily routines, health, water use, and power reliability. Coastal communities also need to understand tsunami evacuation routes and local alerts. A household plan should start with local emergency alerts, evacuation routes, backup communications, supplies for outages, and a calm review of insurance, documents, pets, vehicles, and family contact needs.
California
Common hazards to plan around
Wildfires and wildfire smoke
Wildfire risk varies by region and season, but many communities benefit from defensible-space awareness, evacuation planning, smoke readiness, and alert sign-ups.
Extreme heat and drought
Heat waves and dry conditions can strain households, utilities, agriculture, outdoor work, and vulnerable neighbors, especially during long hot periods.
Flooding and atmospheric rivers
Heavy rain, atmospheric rivers, river flooding, urban drainage problems, snowmelt, and coastal storms can create flood risk in many parts of the state.
Landslides and debris flows
Steep terrain, saturated soils, burn scars, and intense rainfall can increase the chance of slope movement or fast-moving debris flows.
Power outages
Outages can happen during heat, wind, storms, wildfires, grid strain, or planned Public Safety Power Shutoff events in fire-prone conditions.
Coastal tsunami risk
California coastal communities should know local tsunami evacuation zones, natural warning signs, official alerts, and safe routes to higher ground.
Preparedness priorities
- Sign up for local county and city emergency alerts before fire, storm, heat, or tsunami conditions develop.
- Build a household plan that includes evacuation routes, meeting places, pets, vehicles, school or work contacts, and out-of-area communication.
- Prepare for earthquakes by securing heavy items, knowing safe spots, and keeping shoes, flashlights, and supplies easy to reach.
- Keep a go-bag and home supply kit with water, food, medications, chargers, copies of key documents, and basic comfort items.
- Plan for outages with safe lighting, battery backups, charging options, food safety steps, and a communication plan.
- Review wildfire, flood, and tsunami maps from official local or state sources, and follow evacuation orders from local authorities.
- Keep insurance records, home inventory notes, photos, and emergency contacts organized in a place you can access after a disruption.
Official sources
- California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services
State emergency management source for preparedness, response, recovery, earthquakes, floods, fires, power outages, and related planning.
- Listos California
Plain-language California preparedness information for alerts, earthquakes, wildfires, heat, floods, power outages, and household readiness.
- CAL FIRE Ready for Wildfire
Official wildfire preparedness resource with planning, defensible-space, evacuation, and household readiness information.
- California Department of Public Health Extreme Heat
State public health information about extreme heat, heat safety, and community health considerations.
- California Department of Water Resources Flood Preparedness
State flood preparedness and water resources information, including flood planning and atmospheric river context.
- U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program
Federal scientific source for earthquake monitoring, earthquake hazards, and seismic science.
- America250Atlas - California
Educational state history profile for California from America250Atlas, a visual guide for the United States 250th anniversary.
Morgan Hale
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