I moved from St Louis to San Francisco two days before the 1989 Loma Prieta quake (7.1). I had just gotten on the freeway in Redwood City when it hit, and, since that freeway was built on bay mud, I could see the ground waves, and other cars were running into each other. I thought "cool, my first earthquake!" When I got home in San Francisco, all the power was out, and the house across the street had lost its chimney. Other than that, I didn't realize how big it was until I saw all the damage around the bay later.
When I lived in St Louis, I would tell people to watch out for the New Madrid fault. At least people are somewhat prepared in California, with strict seismic building codes. But all of the older buildings in cities like St Louis and Memphis are unreinforced brick, and another quake like the 1811-1812 quakes would be devastating.
