On a daily basis we’re caught up in the excitement of whatever storm or heat wave is going on, or in the latest political maneuverings. Or maybe news from the sports world.
Here in California, though, there’s a background noise like the far-off rumble of a train. It is . . .
The steady threat of an earthquake.
It’s tough to get people to think about and prepare for something they may never have experienced, no matter how dramatic you try to make it. Our neighborhood emergency planning group comes back to the subject of “the big one,” and earthquakes in general, again and again!
Here’s one of our best neighborhood emergency response group flyers.
Share this flyer!
How to use the flyer.
- Make copies and go over it at a neighborhood meeting. You will be surprised at the number of questions that will come up and the number of comments people will make about the supplies they have stored. Discuss the status of gas lines in your neighborhood and how to tell if there is a leak. Take a look around the room you are in and ask people what furniture they would get under if the earthquake happened right this minute! If your meeting takes place at night, find out how many people in the audience even have a flashlight with them! (Action item: Come prepared with a flashlight to give away as a door prize.)
- Make a few changes to the text and and use the flyer at work.
- Send to family members and out-of-town friends, too.
Emphasize the warning about NOT STARTING YOUR CAR if you suspect a gas leak. Cars backed up in traffic jams have started devastating fires in earlier quakes.
So you can make any changes, and fill in the box at the bottom of the flyer,
Click here to download the Microsoft Word document.
Let us know how your meeting goes. What questions came up that you weren’t expecting?
Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team
If you need more background for likely questions, here are some earlier Advisories that may be useful:
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All good points and thanks for the reminder
In Vermont we do get the occasional earthquake from a fault line running across New York State some 50 miles away…we have no awareness here
Oklahoma didn’t have much experience with earthquakes until fracking started up bigtime, and now they have hundreds of them every month. Everybody ought to have an idea of how to protect themselves against earthquakes and tornados, even if they don’t live in an earthquake or tornado-prone area. Watch this space!