Second in a series:

The majestic mountains that surround La Cañada are a sense of pride and what makes the city unique as a hidden bedroom community. Although the city may be a hidden suburb of Los Angeles, it cannot hide from the danger that lies beneath.

In a recent seminar on earthquakes sponsored by the La Cañada Flintridge Public Safety Commission, Dr. Lucy Jones of the US Geological Survey, multi-hazard coordinator of Southern California and local resident, spoke on the reality of earthquakes, specifically in Southern California.

The state has a spiderweb of fault lines, in fact, the breathtaking California coastline can be attributed to its very active earthquake status. Likewise, the beautiful mountains that draw many to the La Cañada area were created by earthquakes and pressure at fault lines. The Sierra Madre and the Verdugo fault lines embrace the city.

The Sierra Madre runs along the foothills and the Verdugo is on the south side of Flintridge, running along from the southern end of the 134 freeway into the 5 freeway.

One can see evidence of the Sierra Madre fault line along the foothills by where it slopes from flat to steep, says Erik Pounders, a geologist with USGS, who is also a longtime La Cañadan.

According to the USGS's Jones, the greatest danger to those in La Cañada from an earthquake is the potential for landslides following a quake.

Many think that earthquakes happen at the epicenter. "They don't happen at the epicenters but they start there," Jones said.

She is heading up a campaign called the Earthquake Country Alliance. With this she is reaching out, using the Internet and seminars such as the one in La Cañada, to make people aware that earthquakes are not only dangerous while the ground is shaking but can trigger other disasters.

"We are piloting a new approach to hazard science where we bring the different scientists together because we think that this issue of how one hazard can trigger another [is important]," Jones said.

Although La Cañada may not suffer from tall buildings toppling to the ground or the initial seconds of shaking from the earthquake, it is the aftermath that Jones wants people to be aware of and in this area landslides pose the most dangerous risks.

"Dangerous, deep-seated landslides result from an earthquake," she said. "We have seen [thousands of] deaths when a landslide covers a city."