California Earthquakes

California has had 4 earthquakes in the past week. To some people this is a sign of "the big one":

She stuffed two backpacks with sweaters, shoes and canned food, and her 4-year-old daughter now sleeps with her instead of in the little girl's own bedroom.

There is zero evidence that earthquakes (other than aftershocks) are related. There is a lot of evidence of people finding patterns where they don't exist. While being prepared for earthquakes is a good idea, you really need to do this ALL the time - not some combination of ignoring the problem and overreacting to the problem. To quote Bruce Schneier:

People tend to worry about the wrong things. We worry about what's in the news. I tell my friends that if it's in the newspaper, don't worry about it because it means it hardly every happens. It's news. News hardly every happens; that's why it's news! When something stops being in the newspaper, then worry about it.