No matter where you live in the state of California, you can’t
help but be aware that the ground you live on has an unnerving
tendency to shake, rattle, and roll.
October is Earthquake Preparedness Month, a logical time to
ask the question: “How well prepared are we at LPC?”
According to Rich Butler, LPC’s Director of Safety and
Security, the most important thing to remember is water. “A
human being can survive for three days without food, not without
water.”
When Butler began work here, he was amazed to find that we
had no emergency water supplies on hand. The water situation
has been remedied and now LPC is in the process of ordering more
generators, as well as portable toilets. Emergency lights, blankets,
and medical supplies are already stored, as well as hard hats,
gloves, and tools that may be needed in cases of structural damage
or emergency rescue. I’m looking at it in terms
of us being isolated, without help from
the outside for a few days.” says Butler.
In the last ten years, according to the Office of Emergency
Services (OES), earthquakes have been the cause of 122 deaths,
14,825 injuries, and more than $84 billion in damages in the
United States alone.
Oct. 17 was the ten-year anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake,
a 7.1 shaker that hit the San Francisco Bay Area. And on Oct.
16 another 7.1 magnitude quake rocked the Hector mine, located
in a remote, sparsely populated part of the Mojave desert, with
aftershocks located in the Palm Springs area.
In 1994, an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude hit the densely populated
Northridge area of Los Angeles, and caused 57 deaths, more than
11,000 injuries, and $25 billion in damages.
According to Pat Jorgensen, of the U.S. Geological Survey
in Menlo Park, there is a 6 percent probability of a magnitude
6.7 or larger earthquake occurring between now and the year 2030
on the Greenville Fault, one of the many faults which affect
this area. The Greenville Fault runs from South of Livermore
to just East of Mount Diablo.
Anyway you look at it, we rock.
Tracking quakes
If you want to keep abreast of earthquake activity, there
are a couple of online organizations that will help you out:
BIGQUAKE sends a message whenever a large earthquake
release is issued (depending on the location of the event). To
subscribe, send an e-mail messageto: Majordomo@ghtmail.cr.usgs.gov.
In the body of the message (not the subject line), put: “Subscribe
bigquake.”
Qedpost sends a daily message listing earthquakes
occurring over the previous seven days. It typically contains
10-30 events per day. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to:
Majordomo@ghtmail.cr.usgs.gov. In the body of the message,
put “Subscribe qedpost.”