"...do you think that smaller community banks and credit unions are safer than the big banks..."

For now, yes. They are not included in the international agreement that would bail out banks on the backs of depositors, as I understand this at present. Isn't this a very sickening perversion of "free markets"!

"..., or that everything would collapse like a house of cards should the first card fall?"

It's hard to know when and how this will begin to play out. I'm no doomsday prepar, but I do occasionally reflect on the possibility, wishing my close friends had not recently sold their second home in Overgaard, AZ