Could California fall into the Pacific Ocean during a bad earthquake?

Answer 1

Absolutely not. The San Andreas fault is a strike slip fault oriented north south so the sense of motion is also north south (it would have to trend east west to move California towards the Pacific) and even then it would be the plate motion, not an earthquake that caused the very slow movement over millions of years.

If you live in Los Angeles and you're willing to wait long enough (around 15 million years), then you'll find yourself next to San Francisco. 70 million years after that, Los Angeles will be level with Alaska.

The US Geological Survey have a web page about earthquake myths - including California sliding into the sea. For further information, please see the related link.

Answer 2

could California fall into the pacfic ocean during a bad earthquake

No!

There are 7 major tectonic plates of rock on the Earth's crust. Most of California sits on the edge of the North American Plate, while part of it's edge sits on the edge of the Pacific Plate. These plates have what are called a "transform boundary" meaning they move next to each other horizontally. Where they meet is called San Andreas Fault. This fault is not like the "mid-Atlantic Ridge" (in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean) which is a "divergent boundary" that is pushing the Atlantic coast further way from the African Coast. So, eventually what will happen is that someday San Francisco will be looking at the LA sky while LA looks at the San Francisco sky, but this will take millions of years.