The Newest Guide for All Things Earthquake

The FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Bulletin of March 9th provides the best EQ document I have seen.  It is long; it is informative.

The guide is called:  Earthquake Safety at Home, available at FEMA.gov. Even the images are helpful. 

The page:  How to Use this Guide near the beginning is helpful.  “Readers using the electronic version of this document can hover over and click online resource references to be taken to the source website.  A list of resources is provided at the end of this document.  You are encouraged to read the document in the order presented; or you can skip to a topic of particular interest.”

If you live in Alaska, California, or Utah, you already know you live in EQ County. But, did you know that half of all Americans also live in areas subject to earthquake risk?  Also, we are a mobile nation, so at some point, visitors will find their way to EQ county and need to be informed.

There are Six Main Sections:  

1. Earthquakes Across America:  Understanding EQ Basics and Your Risk. 
2. Prepare:  Securing Your Space, Making a Plan, and Organizing Your Disaster Supplies.
3. Protect:  Identifying and Addressing Your Vulnerabilities.
4. Survive:  Knowing What to Do During & Immediately After the Earth Shakes.
5. Respond:  Getting Back in Your Home – The First Few Days.
6. Recover and Repair:  Restarting Utilities and Repairing Damage. 

Earthquake Preparedness from the Experts

Earthquake Preparedness.  The paragraphs below are from a series of tweets posted on 02/23/19 by the Utah Dept of Emergency Management @UtahEmergency

The damage a building receives during an earthquake depends on a number of factors below that are in ALL CAPS:

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION -- Wood-framed homes generally fare better than masonry, especially if masonry isn't reinforced. Most modern buildings, built after 1975, should be survivable, which means that they will stand up long enough for people to survive and evacuate.

Two earthquakes strike near Bluffdale Utah

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2019

One was a magnitude 3.2 and the other was magnitude 3.7 

Many Utahns in the southern part of the Salt Lake Valley and northern part of Utah County felt two earthquakes that happened around 5 a.m. today, February 15, 2019. This is one of our regular reminders that Utah is earthquake country. We typically have around eight earthquakes a year that are magnitude 3. We don’t expect that these earthquakes caused much, if any, damage.

The University of Utah Seismograph Stations, in a news release, says 

This morning’s earthquake was reported felt by more than 7,000 residents of the Salt Lake Valley and Utah Valley.  The foreshock was also reported felt.  Since 1962, five earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater have occurred within 16 miles of the epicenter of today’s event.  The largest of these events was a magnitude 4.1 on March 16, 1992, located six miles west-southwest of Bluffdale, UT.

Published by:  Dpsnews.utah.gov

Drop, Cover & Hold On: Limited Mobility

Pre-Dawn Quakes Near Population Center

Earth tremors were felt, pre-dawn, on February 15th in Salt Lake and Utah valleys.  While this is not unusual – quakes of this magnitude happen several times each year -- these tremors occurred along the Wasatch Fault, close to population centers.

Please, take these events as a prompt, a reminder to move forward on 96-hour emergency kit preparation for your family.  

Additionally, PLEASE, at your earliest opportunity, gather your family and practice DROP, COVER and HOLD-ON in each room of your home.  It is done this way:  DROP carefully to the floor, crawl to a desk or table and take COVER under it.  HOLD-ON to the desk/table to prevent it from shifting, leaving you exposed to falling debris.

Great Utah Shake-Out -- DROP, COVER, HOLD-ON and a Few Other Tricks

Image Attribution: http://www.earthquakecountry.org/step5/

Let’s get a jump on our annual Great Utah Shake-Out.  April is the time of year that Utah, and other states, living under the threat of a major earthquake, practice simple, life-saving response techniques, review and refresh emergency on-foot evacuation and auto kits as well as take an inventory of home preparations.

Here is a simple action that can save lives and reduce injuries; we refer to it as: Drop, Cover and Hold-On.

7.0 Alaska Earthquake, November 30, 2018, Part One

Alaska Dept. of Transportation & Public Facilities
[CC by 2.0 (https://creative commons.org/Licenses/by/2.0)],
Vial Wikimedia Commons

I had just said good bye to the seniors at Rivers Bend Senior Center in northwest Salt Lake City following my presentation about our County’s S.A.F.E. Neighborhoods catastrophic disaster response program.  

The possibility of a severe earthquake along the Salt Lake segment of the Wasatch Fault was a major topic of my presentation. I talked about Drop, Cover and Hold On and several response strategies.   For me, each talk I give is real because I have experienced three southern California earthquakes.  

Economic Impact of Earthquakes & Families First

The Salt Lake Valley sits atop geological faults and will be catastrophically impacted by a quake 7.0 or higher. We have been warned by experts who look at the big picture such a major event will have severe economic consequences that will reverberate in and beyond our valley.

There would be direct losses amounting to tens of billions including the losses from the fires it would trigger.  Business disruptions caused by damage to structures, power, water and all forms of transportation would throw the total loss higher...