Catastrophic earthquakes could leave 250,000-400,000 refugees in California

When a catastrophic earthquake hits California, buildings would topple and hundreds of people could be killed.

But what gets less attention is the aftermath of such a huge quake, which could leave whole neighborhoods uninhabitable and hundreds of thousands of people without homes.

Officials are trying to determine where all those refugees would go.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 400,000 could be displaced in a magnitude 7 earthquake on the Hayward fault, which runs underneath cities like Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward and Fremont, said Ken Hudnut, the U.S. Geological Survey's science adviser for risk reduction. And it's possible that more than 250,000 people in Southern California could be forced out of their homes after a major earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, Hudnut said.

Not everyone would have to stay in public shelters. Many would stay with