How to Prepare for an Earthquake

Securing a Piece of Mind

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, preparing for the Big One is a necessity one must not ignore. San Francisco, otherwise known as Earthquake Country, is situated right along San Andreas Fault. The City by the Bay has experienced two major earthquakes in the last century- the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (7.8 Magnitude) which ranks as one of the most significant earthquakes of all time claiming around 3,000 lives, second is the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake (6.9 Magnitude). No one knows exactly when the Big One will strike again, as seismologists use advanced technologies to detect its arrival, unfortunately, it is not preventable. So what do you do when you live in an area where you know it is just a matter of time before the inevitable happens? PREPARE! That's about all you can do other than contemplating moving somewhere else. Preparing for the Big One is not just a state of mind, but a way of living for most people living in and around the San Francisco Bay Area.

Here are some tips that my family does to prepare for a major earthquake:

1) Conduct Emergency Preparedness Drills. My husband, daughter, and I practice this by heart. We conduct drills once every 6 months. We discuss our game plan and meeting point outside our house in case of an earthquake and/or fire. Discuss what and what not to do in case of earthquake emergencies. Walk to a safe, designated meeting place outside of the house away from buildings and street lamps. In case a major earthquake happens and we are not inside our house, we also have a game plan of what to do in case we are separated.

Since I work in downtown San Francisco, we have to take that into consideration on our game plan. In case the phone lines are dead, and cell phones do not have signals, how do we leave messages for each other, where do we leave these messages so they can be seen by us has been part of our discussions. Where do we meet? What do we do? When you find yourself stranded and nowhere to go to, keep in mind that part of survival in this major situation would be to know how to calm yourself and to think straight.