Quakes and SoCal hospitals: not a pretty picture

A new study from the Center for Health Reporting at USC says flatly that when the Big One hits Southern California, "hospitals won't be ready." It's not that the walls will fall down, but that internal damage will render hospitals unusable. Within a few dozen miles of the San Andreas Fault, California’s most dangerous earthquake zone, "scores of hospitals have failed to install safeguards to assure they can keep their doors open after a major earthquake," says the report. There's a colorful interactive graphic with the package. The center is partnering on the stories with newspapers located near the southern end of the fault zone.