By now you’ve probably heard that the Pacific Northwest is due any minute for a mega-earthquake that could be the worst disaster in U.S. history.
That’s not new information, but last month’s article in The New Yorker certainly heightened awareness of the devastation a Cascadia subduction zone rupture will wreak.
In particular, the quote “everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast” triggered a sense of fatalism.
If we’re going to be killed, what’s the point of worrying about it now?
For those of us at The Columbian, a long chat with Scott Johnson, emergency management division manager for the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency, booted us out of that hopeless mindset.
Johnson could create an epic Hollywood-style disaster narrative — exploding trains, crashing airplanes, the earth moving, dams failing and mountains erupting — but he won’t.
Yes, the earthquake will be bad, and people will die, particularly when the 40-foot-tall tsunami that follows the violent shaking strikes the Pacific Coast. However, the vast majority, especially in Clark County, which won’t be affected by the giant waves.
“It’s not going to look like ‘Mad Max,’ ” Johnson said. “There will be neighborhoods that will be severely damaged. And there will be other neighborhoods with extra leaves on the ground and cracks in the plaster.”
Given that, you might as well be prepared to live off the grid and be self-sustaining for several days to a week until outside help arrives. Then, for many months to come, the area will grapple with widespread power outages, interruptions to the drinking water supply, fuel shortages, communication system disruptions and transportation obstacles. Returning to a sense of safety and normalcy will take the collaborative efforts of the community, Johnson said.
“It is going to be a catastrophic disaster, but you have to believe you will survive it,” he said. “By giving up, you already, in effect, have lost. Mentally believing you have the resilience is the key to surviving this type of thing.”
There’s so much information available nowadays about preparing for an emergency, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. So we’re going to make it easier for you by shaving down “How to Prepare for the Big One” into a few key points to get you started.
“Anything is better than nothing,” Johnson said. “Resiliency and recovery start at the individual level.”
• During the earthquake, you can survive: You don’t need a 17-step survival plan. It’s impossible to plan for every scenario, and when disaster strikes, it will be important to be flexible.
“There isn’t a one-size fits-all, everybody-do-this (plan),” Johnson said.
But here’s a helpful mantra: Drop, cover and hold on. That means get underneath something sturdy, such as a desk or table. Hang on to the legs, so you remain covered as the table moves.
While running for a building exit might be your first instinct, don’t. Remember, there could be aftershocks that could cause as much damage as the first earthquake. When the ground stops shaking, make sure you’re OK, then check on the people around you. Is there any immediate danger, such as a gas leak, downed power lines, rushing water?
Then expand outside your immediate network; is the neighbor down the hall OK? That way, you’re creating what Johnson calls a “pocket of resilience.”
“Experience has shown when a disaster happens, people make sure they are OK, and their family is OK, and then they help their neighbors,” he said.
If an earthquake happens, the first responders are going to be those people around you, so it’s helpful to know who on the block owns a lot of tools, who might be a skilled electrician or who might need extra help.
• Preparing your home: Strap down your water heater. Kits are available at hardware stores. Post-disaster, remember that the water inside the water heater is drinkable, accessible through the drain spigot at the bottom. But the water heater is not a source of emergency water if it comes flying off the wall.
Teach everyone in your household to shut off the main water valve, electricity and gas lines.
If you can afford it, bolt your home to its foundation.
If you live in an apartment, know where the fuse boxes are and how to shut off the water. Ask your landlord where the electrical shutoff is.
“Understanding where all your utility controls are is important,” Johnson said.
Also, be aware of your surroundings. Look above you. Think about the trees overhead, how many heavy things are on the wall, how would you safely get out of your bedroom. Do the same at your office.
• Making a family plan: Decide on two meeting places, such as a park or a school parking lot, that everyone can reach. If one place isn’t accessible, go to the second.
Establish one friend or relative who lives out of the area (say, on the East Coast) for everyone in the family to contact following the earthquake with a personal status report. Keep in mind that text messages use less bandwidth than phone calls.
Copy your important documents (passport, driver’s license, insurance records, marriage license, birth certificates, Social Security cards, financial documents) onto two USB drives. Keep one for yourself and mail the other one to your family contact.
• Emergency kits: You’ll need three kits: One for your home, one to keep in your car and one for work. For practical purposes, the kit at home should be the most comprehensive. Maybe you’ll store it by your camping gear in an easily accessible spot in the garage, if you have one. You’ll want to keep a sturdy pair of shoes next to your bed to prevent injuring your feet on broken glass, which is the No. 1 injury following an earthquake.
Put some cash in your kit. If the bridges collapse, the money could buy a boat ride to Portland.
Good things to have: Large, heavy trash bags (for ponchos, shelter, carrying things); duct tape; a Leatherman multitool; a battery-powered emergency radio with a hand crank that can serve as a flashlight and cellphone charger; a gallon of water per day per person; toilet paper; a bucket and plastic bags for human waste; a fire starter; 10-pound bag of charcoal; dried food (Johnson doesn’t recommend military Meals Ready to Eat because they can cause constipation or diarrhea), focusing on the type of food you normally eat; pet food; first-aid kit; a change of clothes; a backup pair of reading glasses; sleeping bags; a water filter; a hatchet and handsaw; sockets and wrenches.
At the very least, your workplace kit should contain bottled water, your medications, a snack and sturdy shoes (if you wear high heels or sandals to work).
• Pockets of resilience: You’ll probably need help after the earthquake, and you might be able to help others, too. Get to know your neighbors. Find out what skills they might have, who is medically fragile, who is a nurse, who has a cache of tools, who’s a good cook, who has a huge freezer stocked with meat that will need to be barbecued before it goes bad.
Take CPR, first-aid and disaster response classes.
Once you’ve survived, Johnson suggests, next step is to consider: What can you give?
What skills do you have as an individual or as a workplace?
The goal is to create pockets of resilience that can expand outward to encompass more people. You can assess what you have and what you need. This will ease the burden on emergency responders when they eventually arrive.
“We’re a group of people who are organized, and we’re OK, so we can go to a group of people that aren’t OK, and we can help them,” Johnson said.
Slowly, the community can create more resilient microislands.
“Whether it’s helping people clear rubble, clear the streets … it’s the same concept,” he said. “I’m OK. You’re OK. How can we help?”
