The San Francisco earth quake of 1989 was rated 7.1. The Anchorage Alaska earthquake of 1964 was rated 8.4. So the Anchorage earthquake was more than ten times stronger than the San Francisco earthquake. Some places with faults are Alaska, Japan, California, and Turkey. The most common place for an earthquake in the USA is Southern California.
Earthquakes happen least in the USA in Southern Florida, Southern Texas, and Southern Alabama.
How much damage an earthquake does depends on where it occurs. If you took two earthquakes of the same rating and one occurred in the city and one occurred in the countryside, the one in the city would do more damage where there are buildings and people bunched together. There are many ways to prepare for an earthquake. For instance, you could put pieces of metal to hold things in place. For your safety you could find a a safe place to go during an earth quake, like under a sturdy table.