Great International ShakeOut Earthquake Drill - October 19th

Credit USGS

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Last September, on day 3 of National Preparedness Month, we looked at the seismic risks in the United States in #NatlPrep: Half Of All Americans Need An Earthquake Plan. As the USGS map above illustrates, tens of millions of Americans live or work in earthquake zones.

While the `big one' in California (see Dr. Lucy Jones: `Imagine America Without Los Angeles’) is perhaps the most anticipated major disaster of all time, there are other areas in the continental United States equally ripe for a big quake.

• FEMA and the U.S. government recently conducted a huge drill (see FEMA: Cascadia Rising 2016)  involving 20,000 people from both the United States and Canada, in order to prepare for a catastrophic M9.0 quake & tsunami off the Pacific coast. 

• And in 2011 – during the bicentennial of the four great New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12 – FEMA and other federal agencies mounted the largest National Level Exercise (NLE) to that date, revolving around a catastrophic earthquake occurring in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) that would involve eight Central U.S. States.

In recent years Oklahoma has see a huge upsurge in seismic activity (see M5.6 Quake In Northern Oklahoma), while northern Alabama, Georgia and Eastern Tennessee - and even New York City and parts of New England  - can experience infrequent, but strong temblors (see USGS: Eastern Earthquakes - Rare But Powerful).

All of which makes it imperative that families and businesses have not only a plan and the supplies on hand to withstand the aftermath of a large earthquake, but also know what to do while the earthquake is happening.

Starting ten years ago with a fairly modest Great Southern California Shakeout Drill, ShakeOut.org has promoted earthquake awareness, preparedness, and safety in scores of regions across the country and around the world, and will do so again next week (on October 19th) in 2017's Great Shakeout Earthquake Drill.
 

This year more than 50 million people are expected to take part globally, and you are invited as well. You should consider taking part, even if you don’t live in a high-risk seismic region.

The reason?

You might just find yourself visiting an earthquake susceptible area someday, and need to know what to do during a quake.

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. 

Given the hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico this summer, in my humble opinion, 2-weeks 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:

USGS: Induced Earthquakes Raise Chances of Damaging Shaking in 2016

California Quakes : Concrete Concerns

Estimating The Economic Impact Of A San Andreas Quake