BAY AREA QUAKE : Shaken Into Earthquake Readiness : Preparedness: The Bay Area temblor spurs sales of emergency supplies in the Southland.

Fear of the inevitable and pictures of the earthquake-battered San Francisco Bay Area drove Christine Marquez of South Pasadena to buy $15 worth of batteries, candles and a flashlight.

“My sister and I were talking about what we would do if we didn’t have power,” said Marquez, a secretary. “We always kept talking about how we should (stock up), and then I said, ‘We are going to tonight.’ ”

The Bay Area earthquake has prodded jittery Los Angeles area residents like Marquez to build or replenish their personal stockpiles of food, water and medical supplies to survive the next major quake that will eventually hit the region.

Supermarkets, surplus stores and recreational equipment outlets reported brisk sales of flashlights, bottled water, lanterns, portable toilets and earthquake preparation kits.

Besides equipment, Southern California residents were also hungry for information on earthquake preparedness.

Viewers swamped television station KCET with nearly 1,200 orders for a $20 videocassette copy of the program “Surviving the Big One: How to Prepare for a Major Earthquake,” which the station re-ran Wednesday night.

“We were averaging six orders a day and it went to 600,” a station spokeswoman said.

Radio station KFWB, which has run three in-depth series on earthquake preparedness in the past year, said it was getting “a very strong response” this week from listeners seeking the station’s two-page brochure on how to prepare a home and family for an earthquake.

“We had one lady who called this morning and wanted 10,000 copies,” Executive Editor Bill Yeager said. “She said she had a large office and people were clamoring for it.”

The 100-store Stater Bros. supermarket chain reported a 10% to 15% increase in sales of flashlights, batteries and bottled water. Vons Cos. supermarkets said sales of canned fruits and vegetables were up.

“Most of the increase does not seem to be a panic type of buying,” Vons spokeswoman Vicki Sanders said. “It’s mostly people who are in the store shopping and decide, ‘Oh well, I do need some bottled water or some canned goods.”

The demand for survival gear has been most striking at surplus and sporting goods stores. Sportmart stores, for example, have collected such in-demand equipment as first-aid kits, camping utensils, emergency candles and waterproof matches in special displays at the end of aisles.

“A couple of hours after the quake, people were calling us up and asking if we had earthquake preparation kits,” said Danny Sonenfeld, general manager of California Surplus in Hollywood. “It was almost a knee-jerk reaction. We have been swamped since the earthquake.

“People are buying what they feel they need,” said Sonenfeld, who reported increased sales of water filters and purification tablets and portable stoves. “They are not being too cost-conscious.”

Lantie Marquett of Long Beach dropped by REI, a recreational equipment store in Carson, to shop for a portable stove. “I know there is a possibility of gas lines breaking,” she said. “This quake spurred me on. It’s due here at any time.”

At the Pasadena offices of Extend-a-Life, which sells prepackaged survival kits, the bestseller was the Family Pack, which included a three-day supply of non-perishable food and water for four people and a crank-operated combination radio and flashlight. The price: $219.

“We’ve had 100 walk-in customers in the past two days,” said Dana Glickman, account executive at the 8-year-old Pasadena firm. “Normally we only have three walk-ins a day. It’s usually mothers with children and elderly people who are afraid. I’m afraid.”

Even before the quake, there were signs that Los Angeles-area residents were preparing for a major quake in the Southland.

In late September, the Malibu Surfside News and Save Our Coast organizations invited a Caltech seismologist, a Red Cross expert and a Sheriff’s Department official to speak about quake preparedness in Malibu, and 200 residents showed up, said Mary Frampton, one of the organizers. Frampton, who has stocked her home with three days’ worth of bottled water, canned food and flashlights, said, “We just realized that it was potential in all of Southern California and we wanted people to be as prepared as possible.”