I popped in here earlier and voted 'books' because I am a bit of a book-aholic.

Honestly, people and pets would be a higher priority. And some of my genealogical data -- I need to get put on the web, I would hate to lose it in a fire. Losing stuff would be painful, but losing loved ones would be so much worse.

Reminds me a little of the Loma Prieta earthquake here -- the damage was largely based on what axis your home was on and the proximity to the epicenter. I needed help to get into my apartment because a lot of stuff was thrown around and I lost power. The apartment across the hall from me had one pillow fall and they had their phone and power -- the axis was perpendicular to mine so they 'rode' the shock waves. One of my strongest memories was sitting in their apartment (sweet people, they were really worried about all of us 'cross the hallies ') and as the after shocks hit it was so weird. I could see people on the tennis courts trying to play, and I could hear people screaming during each shock wave. People's reactions were so very different it amazed me. (Oops, sorry, got side-tracked. I'll wander off now. )