Disaster readiness in Bay Area assessed

The Bay Area may have experience in disasters, but is it prepared enough for the next one -- particularly when it comes to helping the region's poor?

A group of the country's top experts on disaster preparedness will join with Bay Area leaders in a private gathering in Sebastopol over the weekend to assess how well-equipped -- in training and resources -- local communities, businesses and charities will be when another earthquake or similar disaster strikes.

``It's a statistical probability that we'll have a major disaster, because of geography and geology, in the next 30 years,'' said Anisya Thomas, managing director of the Fritz Institute, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that helps communities prepare for and respond to disasters.

from the Mercury News