Earthquake and Disaster Preparedness
Updated July 15th 2011
At the January 2006 General Meeting, Ben Gonzales and Mary Melendrez from the Santa Ana Fire Department talked about the importance of emergency preparation and the City programs to help.
The Fire Department offers CERT training (Community Emergency Response Team). It's designed to give you the skills to help your family and your neighbors in the event of a catastrophic disaster. Community services like police and fire may be unable to respond for three days or more in a disaster, would you know what to do? It's a 4-week program (2 days/week) program that teaches:
• Disaster Preparedness
• Fire Supression
• Disaster Medical Operations
• Light Search and Rescue
• Disaster Psychology and Team Organization
• Terrorism and CERT
Six Washington Square residents were CERT trained in 2006 and will tell you that it's a very interresting and valuable program. It would be great to get more neighbors trained and ready for the big one.
Call SAFD Fire Captain Ben Gonzalez to find out when the next class is scheduled at 714 647-5788 or email Bgonzales@santa-ana.org
Speaking of which...do you have an earthquake kit for your family? Do you have one in your car and at your workplace too? Here's a guideline from the SAFD. (.pdf) A trip to the Target or Walmart sporting goods department might be in order. Gather the items together and seal them in a waterproof, crushproof container (or containers) and put them in an accessble place. That might be in a shed in the backyard, in your garage if you have an access door other than the tilt-up or roll up door or somewhere out of harm's way in your yard. A big clean garbage can will hold a good sized kit. Remember to pack it and seal it for life in the elements.
Work out a meeting plan with your family members so they know what to do if they're away from home when disaster strikes. The SAFD also suggests a small emergency kit for your car and workplace. Talk to your children about what could happen and what they should do if they're at school or away from home. Here's a FEMA page for kids. They should know what natural gas smells like and what to do if they smell it.
Take some time to think about what you would do and what you would need to survive if a major quake hits our area and your home is unsafe to enter. There will be aftershocks for some time to come and you don't want to be inside when a large one hits.
What would you do if there were no electricity, no phone service, no running water, no gas, closed stores, damaged roads, no EMT services and no police for a week? It could happen here. If there's a lot of damage, even your cell phone may not work for a while. 72hours.org will help you formulate a plan and a kit.
You'll need food and water, a first aid kit, cash, an emergency radio, flashlights and spare batteries, toilet paper (& maybe a shovel) clothing, shoes, a place to sleep, a way to charge your cell phone, don't forget your pets --they need food too...the list goes on. THINK ABOUT IT NOW! A little training and preparation now will make a big difference. Click one of links below and look at the recommendations. Buy an led flashlight or two and stash them in your kit. The new crop of them produce as much or more light than a traditional bulb and use far less battery power.
Do you have valuable art and/or collectibles on shelves? Pick up some museum putty and stick them down now. Five bucks worth of putty may save thousands, even if the shaking is minor. Make sure all your kitchen cabinets and cupboards close securly.
Do you know how to turn off your gas, water and electric? Knowing where and how could prevent a fire or explosion. For Gas, you'll need a large adjustable wrench. Better yet, install an earthquake valve now. Of course, after an earthquake use your head and smell around for leaks. You don't want to turn off the gas unless you need to because it may be a long time before the gas company can send someone out to turn it back on. Unless you know exactly how to light each and every pilot light, leave that job to a professional.
In Washington Square, most of our water and gas valves are in "vaults" in the parkway in front of your house. That's where the main valves are but there may be another shutoff where the utilities enter your home. Take a walk and figure out were they are and what you need to shut them off. 
Your main electric box near the service entrance will have a main circuit breaker (or fuse if it hasn't been updated) that cuts off the power to the whole house. It's probably marked 100 or 150. After a quake make sure the overhead wires haven't fallen before you go near the service entrance.
Get to know your neighbors. We take a lot of pride in our neighborhood and one of the things that makes Washington Square different than a lot of California neighborhoods is that residents tend to get to know their neighbors. Your neighbor may be your best friend in an emergency. We'll have to pool resources and talents to survive the first few days without services. Find out who lives around you and what they have that can help. For example, someone with a pool can provide water for many households. If you have an elderly neigbor or one with health problems make it your responsibility to check up on them if a quake occurs.
CERT volunteers may come through the neighborhood to help where they can and pave the way for police and fire. They will be wearing green vests and helmets and have been trained in first response basics. They'll need to know how many people live in the homes around you and if there are any casulties. Remember that they're volunteers and won't be driving fire engines. They're trained, willing to help and may be your only help for several days. Please take the CERT classes if you can, Washington Square needs many more trained volunteers.
Here's something you might not have thought about: what would you do if all the computers in your home and office are destroyed. So many of us keep so much of our lives in our computers, how can you salvage your data after a disaster? One way might be to backup your most important files online so you can access them later to rebuild your life.
Earthquake or not, it's probably a good idea. Sign up for a free email account from GMail, Yahoo or AOL. Send all of your personal info to that address and use it for nothing else. Don't give out that email address to anyone except your family. GMail gives you 7.5 GB of storage now, enough for most of your photos and doccuments. Just send yourself something on a monthy basis to keep the account active. There's a 25MB attachment size limit to most of the services. For bigger files and more capacity consider a paid storage solution. Here's comparison of ten of them. They start around $5/month. Microsoft offers 25GB of free online storage with skydrive. Make sure whatever service you use is secure and not a public sharing site like Flikr.
Scan your important doccuments like passports, birth certificates, credit cards, insurance information, etc and upload it. If you have a address book in a program like Outlook, export your contacts and upload them. If you do your taxes yourself, upload your TurboTax files. Take pictures of your home, your valuables your family members and your pets and upload them. Remember to update your information regularly!
Here are some resources to help with your disaster plan.
Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country A comprehensive guide to living here from the Southern California Earthquake Center. 9MB pdf It's a very well done guidebook, our recommendation: download it, print it out, read it with your family and put it in your earthquake kit. It was updated in 2011. Their download site is here if you want to check for a newer version or download the Spanish language version.
The Earthquake Preparedness Handbook from the LAFD (1.8MB pdf)
Preparedness from the American Red Cross
Tip Sheets from the State of California Emergency Management
Guardian Insurance has a good earthquake preparedness article.
There are commercial earthquake kits available from many sources. Here are a few (with no endorsement)
Costco Emergency Kits & Suppies
Do you have a great kit put together already and want to share ideas with your neighbors? This is an on-going program from WSNA that needs your help. Email webmaster@washington-square-org with your ideas and suggestions and we'll post them here.
More resources:
Southern California Earthquake Center
USGS Earthquake Notification Service - get quake notification sent to your SMS or email
Animated Shakemaps from CalTech
We Ready.org Caribbean Earthquake Preparedness
Ready America Kits and preparedness from FEMA
Preparedness for the disability community
Public Health Emergency Info from US Health & Human Services
Earthquake Courseware for science teachers
Savage Earth PBS series page
and finally information from those "Be Prepared" folks, The Boy Scouts of America
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