Earthquake preparedness: International standards needed

Electricity Powers the Modern world. It is so reliable and integral to so many things we do every day that most of us dont even think about it being available when we demand it. Could you imagine a day without it? A week? A month? One of the writers still remembers vividly the effects of the January 1998 ice storm in Quebec when his neighborhood was without power for 11 days - It put the family in primarily survival mode for the first days when they camped in the basement, with only a wood stove as the primary source of heat and means to prepare meals. © 2006 IEEE.