California quake

Denis Poroy for WORLD

Standing open, a high wooden gate welcomes visitors into the tasteful front courtyard of Mike and Shannon Lee's hacienda-style home. On the right, water cascades from a fountain of blue Mexican tile built into a buff-colored stucco wall. All around, cushioned conversation groupings beckon neighbors to stay awhile, perhaps to sip drinks in the shade of broad umbrellas.

But the Lees, who moved into the upscale Chula Vista, Calif., community of Eastlake just over two years ago, don't have as many neighbors as they used to. The house next door is empty; in the yard, a sign barks "Foreclosure" in bright red. The house next to that is also in foreclosure, the ReMax shingle in the barren front yard now smashed into shards that twist like hanged men in the light spring breeze.