#11,995
About an hour ago, while I was away from my desk, a Magnitude 6.5 quake struck about 160km west of Ferndale, California, followed by several smaller aftershocks.
There are no reports of damage in the sparsely populated coastal region and no tsunami warning was issued.This is a seismically active area, and more aftershocks are likely.
No matter where you live, FEMA, Ready.gov, and other agencies urge that everyone have - at a bare minimum - a well thought out disaster and family communications plan, along with a good first aid kit, a `bug-out bag’, and sufficient emergency supplies to last at least 72 hours.
But in a major disaster, you may very well wish you’d done more.
In When 72 Hours Isn’t Enough, I highlighted a colorful, easy-to-follow, 100 page `survival guide’ released by Los Angeles County, that covers everything from earthquake and tsunami preparedness, to getting ready for a pandemic.
The guide may be downloaded here (6.5 Mbyte PDF).
While designed specifically for the nearly 10 million residents of Los Angeles County, this guide would be a valuable asset for anyone interested in preparing for a variety of hazards. And in Los Angeles, the advice is to have emergency supplies (food, water, etc) to last up to 10 days. In my humble opinion, 2-weeks in an earthquake zone isn’t overkill.
As you work to better prepare your home, business, and family to deal with an earthquake (or any other major disaster), I would If I would strongly encourage you to visit ShakeOut.org and to take part in next week’s drill.
For more on earthquakes, and earthquake preparedness, you may wish to revisit:
Dr. Lucy Jones: `Imagine America Without Los Angeles’
California Quakes : Concrete Concerns
Estimating The Economic Impact Of A San Andreas Quake
