The United States Geological Survey is reminding Bay Area residents to be prepared for an earthquake following a deadly 7.6 magnitude temblor in Japan.

“We see these devastating earthquakes across the globe and we have the potential to have similar-sized earthquakes in California,” said William Yeck, a research geophysicist with the USGS.

Yeck said California and Japan are similar in that they are both fairly resilient areas, including building codes to try to prevent extensive damage. Still, an earthquake of that size could be devastating.

“In the Bay Area, the Hayward fault is a significant fault that there could be a very large earthquake on,” Yeck said.