# 2937
No one knows when the next pandemic will strike.
Just as no one knows when the next big earthquake will hit California, or the Pacific Northwest, or perhaps in the mid-west along the New Madrid Fault. Even the Eastern Seaboard isn’t immune from damaging quakes as was proved by the Charleston Earthquake of 1886.
Most of the time, disasters happen suddenly . . . and usually with little warning.
Today, there are a few scientists watching a series of micro-quakes that have been occurring along the San Andreas Fault, 90 miles east of San Diego.
Maybe it means nothing. But micro-quakes are sometimes a precursor to something bigger.
This from KTLA News.
KTLA News
March 25, 2009
BOMBAY BEACH -- The swarm of earthquakes near the Salton Sea continued Wednesday morning with more than a dozen small temblors hitting the area.
The largest of Wednesday's quakes was a magnitude-3.5 that struck shortly before 1 a.m. and was followed by several micro quakes.
Some 24 shakers were recorded in the same area Tuesday morning including a magnitude-4.8 which struck at 4:55 a.m. on the edge of the Salton Sea, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake was centered three miles south of the small town of Bombay Beach and 90 miles east of San Diego.
It was followed by a swarm of smaller quakes, which were recorded between 4:58 a.m. and 6:14 a.m. around Bombay Beach. Most of those temblors registered lower than a 3.0-magnitude, officials said.
There were no reports of any injury or damages in any of the earthquakes.
The recent activity has sparked the interest of scientists who want to see if small faults crossing under the Salton Sea are transferring energy to a section of the more dangerous San Andreas fault, which has not popped in more than 300 years.
An earthquake that starts in Bombay Beach and ripples northwest along the San Andreas fault could be the Big One that devastates Los Angeles, Graham Kent, a research geophysicist at UC San Diego, told the Los Angeles Times.
(Continue . . .)
Of course, Californians are used to these warnings. And that’s the problem. They’ve heard the warnings so many times, most people now ignore them.
Maybe this isn’t the precursor to `The Big One’. In fact, the odds are it isn’t.
But one of these days . . . .
Whether the next major disaster jolts California, or is the result of a tornado outbreak in the mid-west, or comes from a hurricane along the Gulf Coast - we know one thing with certainty.
Disasters happen, and they happen often.
Last year, FEMA responded to 75 Federally declared disasters in the United States.
Blizzards, ice storms, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes . . . and on rare occasions earthquakes and even pandemics . . . can all cause serious disruptions and loss of life.
FEMA and READY.GOV are just two of the agencies urging that all American get prepared, and stay prepared, to deal with disasters. They know that in an emergency, the better prepared individuals and families are, the less impact a disaster will have on a community.
This map from FEMA (3mb PDF), showing Presidential Disaster Declarations between January 3rd, 2000 and March 3rd, 2007 shows that very few areas of the country have escaped from experiencing some type of disaster over the past decade.
Some areas have been hit more than once.
READY.GOV provides abundant resources and advice on how to become prepared to deal with emergencies. They advise:
EVERY HOME should have, as a minimum, a 72-hour emergency kit and a well understood (and rehearsed) emergency plan.
Once you have reached that minimum level of preparedness, you can then begin to work towards the 2-week recommendation of the HHS, or beyond. There are some agencies and organizations that strongly urge 30 – 60 – even 90 days of preparations.
But, as the READY.GOV logo says above, you are urged to START TODAY.
Because . . . . . well, re-read the title to this post.
