Store plenty of water. That’s my first bit of advice for earthquake preparedness. I suggest storing water for drinking — enough to last a week — and maybe some extra water for washing and cleaning.
If we’re going to prepare for an earthquake, let’s prepare for a big one. Then we’ll be ready for smaller ones or even severe storms with the potential to isolate us. Getting ready for an emergency can help reduce the anxiety of thinking about a long power outage, broken water pipes and other damage. Do what you can, then realize that recovery will come, though it could take time.
Kitsap Sun file photo
If you would rather ignore the dangers, I guess that’s one option for dealing with this kind of anxiety. But it could be a costly approach, one ultimately filled with regret.
I recently had the privilege to be part of a team of reporters who wrote about the effects of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake along the Seattle fault. If you haven’t read the stories in the Kitsap Sun, I urge you to take a look at “The Danger Below Us.”
It may seem like a random number — 7.2 magnitude, large for any earthquake — but people need to understand that this earthquake would occur at or near ground level on a fault that runs through the center of Kitsap and King counties. That’s essentially right next door to hundreds of thousands of people.
Such an earthquake is not imaginary. It has happened before — long before any cities were built. Where the fault broke free, the land and seabed were raised upwards by more than 20 feet. Evidence is still visible at the south end of Bainbridge Island, where a submerged beach is now high and dry.
Photo: Washington Department of Ecology
Most of us have heard concerns about the worrisome Cascadia subduction zone earthquake, which raised alarms after the New Yorker magazine described its potential effects. But for many residents of Puget Sound, a quake on the Seattle fault could be far worse, though probably less likely over the next 50 years.
The Kitsap Sun stories were based upon an earthquake scenario developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and presented to local governments in a “Draft Risk Report.” A separate scenario for a 6.7-magnitude quake was developed in 2005 by Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, which modeled the effects of fault rupture from Seattle through Bellevue to the east.
The death and destruction in either scenario is hard to imagine, and who wants to think about devastation in this seemingly peaceful part of the world? Keep in mind that even in a worst case, most people will survive to rebuild and go on with their lives, as they have in other parts of the world, including Japan. As we have learned from other areas, being prepared can make a real difference.
When I think about getting prepared, I begin with water. We cannot live without it. The preparedness list published on the Kitsap Sun’s website includes developing an emergency plan for your family, addressing structural problems with your house, learning first aid and several other things.
I was thrilled to hear about the attitudes of people in a Port Orchard neighborhood where families worked together to develop a neighborhood emergency plan. I learned a lot in the story by reporter Tristan Baurick. If you would like to help organize your neighborhood, Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management (PDF 373 kb) can help.
Reporter Ed Friedrich wrote about the potential damage to Navy facilities, and reporter Tad Sooter wrote about how businesses are coping with the risks of an earthquake.
I wrote about the geology that leads to these great risks we are facing in a story called “Multiple geologic forces make region vulnerable to quakes.” I also wrote about an early-warning system being developed to give people a brief notice of severe shaking, which could be enough time to save lives.
In the matter of the early-warning system, President Obama’s proposed budget to Congress, released Tuesday, includes $8.2 million for the early-warning system. See the news release from Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Derek Kilmer.
A good explanation about how people might benefit from the early-warning system is provided by Richard Allen in a presentation Feb. 2 in Washington, D.C., called “The Resilience Summit.” This issue is discussed in a YouTube video from 7:40 to 14:00 minutes into the video.
Another video, below, provides additional details about the design of the early-warning system and how it would function in the Los Angeles region. Called Shake Alert, the project has its own website. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network is a key part of the project.
