Oct. 2009 Emergency Prep. Meet. on Earthquake Preparedness

Several years ago when the tsumani hit halfway around the world, I began reading about earthquakes and the effects of earthquakes. Knowing that eventually I would be moving to Logan, Utah, I wanted to know if this was a prime area for an earthquake. What I discovered was that Cache Valley has daily earthquakes of a small magnitude that don't impact on our daily lives. Still, when President Hinckley was building the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, he questioned the architects after they submitted the building plans to him about how earthquake proof the building was. When they assured him that building code had been followed (and probably strengthened), he told the architects to increase the earthquake proofing of the building by four-fold, if memory serves me correctly.

I take President Hinckley's example seriously. When it came time to insure my house in Nibley, I made sure I paid the extra premium amount for earthquake insurance. When presented with an opportunity last year to attend a meeting in Logan on earthquakes, I learned a great deal.

Then I met Diane and Norm Edler at one of the emergency preparedness meetings I held at the Nibley 6 Ward. They shared some of the circumstances that they lived through while residing in California. They have lived through TWO earthquakes themselves and have the pictures to prove it. They graciously accepted my invitation to speak at our October emergency preparedness meeting. What follows is some of the information that they shared.

There are two kinds of earthquakes: rolling and thrusting. Each one is different from the other and has a different impact on the kind of damage that it does both in the community and in your own home. Some details on impact will be similar no matter which kind of earthquake one is experiencing.

One of the most important things that any of us can do is to keep shoes and clothes right next to our beds. Earthquakes can occur in the middle of the night. When they do, furniture is toppled, mirrors and glass picture frames shatter and fall to the floor, and items fly out of cabinets and off shelves. When you need to evacuate, you will need something on your feet to avoid injuries to the bottoms of bare feet while having to walk, perhaps in the dark of night because there may be a disruption in electic, to safety outside of your home. Keep a flashlight next to your bed that is ALWAYS operable. I keep a wind-up flashlight that I know I can rely on. Thirty seconds of winding gets me several minutes of good light.

During one of the earthquakes Norm was sleeping in bed while Diane was in another part of the house. Their very large headboard fell on Norm during the earthquake and kept him pinned there until Diane could get to him to help remove it. An aftershock hit, and the headboard fell again. Diane made a good point when she said that furniture topples and can prevent you from easily getting to where you want to go or from getting there at all. You will want to secure heavy items that can topple over.

Pictures were shown of the contents of their home. Their kitchen cupboard doors flew open and dishes, glassware, etc. was everywhere on the floor. Pictures of their dining room showed much of the same thing with the contents of their furniture being spilled onto the floor, most of it broken beyone repair.

Norm covered hot water heaters and showed a hot water kit that can be purchased from a Home Depot type store that will secure your hot water heater from toppling over during the earthquake. It is a metal band or two that secures to the studs surrounding it. He also stated that we needed to keep an extra flexible hose in an accessible area because that hose (found on the top of the hot water heater) often breaks during an earthquake. It is only a few dollars to purchase, but absolutetly essential to being able to use the hot water heater. Remember that during a disaster that stores will run out of things like this in an hour because so many hot water heaters will be impacted. Do not turn your gas valve off outside unless you smell gas or see it leaking outside as once the gas is turned off, you cannot turn it back on without a representative from the gas company doing it. This could take days. Also, keep a wrench accessible to turn off the gas if you have to and have a water key accessible if you need to turn the water off so that your place doesn't get flooded if the water pipes are broken.

Norm and Diane also mentioned that supermarket shelves were emptied in 3 hours. They were the only ones in their large neighborhood with home storage and graciously shared it with those in need. They also quoted a statistic about LDS families and homestorage: Less than 8% of LDS families have any home storage program at all. So, look around your neighborhood and try to imagine how many folks are prepared or who are not prepared to any degree. Remember that when the supermarket shelves are emptied, they will not be restocked any time soon because roadways will be disrupted, bridges will be out, mountain passes may not exist anymore, the power may not be on to even open the store, put the refrigeration on, etc. They also stated from having just completed a mission working at the Bishop's Storehouse in Logan that the Storehouse could theoretically be emptied in one day. So, for those you know who say that the Church will take care of us in time of need, you need to quote this statistic.

In addition to having a good flashlight next to your bed, you also need accessibility to a good knife to help you with whatever you will be facing and a good battery-powered radio. You will get reports from the radio on the earthquake itself, its impact and the availability of medical or physical support, road conditions, power supply repairs, etc.

I took a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) course a year ago in Logan. It is one of the best things I have ever done. The Logan firemen ran it, and I learned tons of useful information for both myself and my immediate neighbors on disaster training, first aid, flooding, earthquakes, etc. One of the greatest points the firemen made was that there are approximately 90,000 people in Logan at any given time and 7 response vehicles. They said it would be at least 3 days before they could get to any emergenices outside of Logan due to the need in Logan and the condition of the roads, flooding, lack of power, etc. Families are going to need medical supplies and know many first aid techniques.

Diane made a good point when she stated that she has learned to keep home storage in various parts of her house and outside of her house as many rooms were not accessible. The garage was not accessible. So for those of us who store our home storage in the basement and in the garage, it may be that we will not be able to use it. For these reasons Diane now stores home storage necessities in most rooms of the house. I have decide to put together bedding, a way to start a fire and cook, some food and some water in my shed so that I will have something if I can't get to my home storage in the house.

Check with your homeowner's insurance company and your policy on earthquake coverage. It is a separate rider in your insurance package. You are NOT automatically covered if an earthquake occurs here, which means that if your house is destroyed or there is damage of any sort that you are on your own to get it repaired or replaced. Norm shared that their home's foundation was cracked and damaged to the point of needing repair. The cost was $60,000. If you have no insurance, then you pay the whole $60,000 yourself. I have an earthquake rider on my insurance policy because of the fact that there are daily earthquakes in Cache County. There is a fault line up on the bench along Rt. 165 leading to Macey's, another one out by first and second dams in Logan Canyon and a huge one along the Rt. 15 corridor leading from Brigham City to at least Salt Lake City. So, please don't put off calling your insurance company to check on this. In my opinion it is money well spent. I don't know of anyone with savings enough to pay for the kinds and amounts of repairs that may be needed after the earthquake hits.

Norm and Diane spoke for an entire hour. One member who was present at that meeting last month commented that he could have listened to them for another hour. The pictures they shared were priceless because they showed the amount of destruction both in their home and in their neighborhood. Whole houses were demolished and completely gone in a matter of seconds. Ihave not listed all of what was said in that hour, but have hit on the high points. You can Google earthquakes and learn even more.

Remember that there are often aftershocks after the first earthquake hits, so don't think it is over after the initial shaking and bouncing. Get prepared now because you do not know what tomorrow will bring. We have been warned. Remember to warn your neighbors and family.