Earthquake country

[mschrisgo2]

I always wonder what my dog (small cocker spaniel) will do in the event of a "disaster." We had a relatively strong earthquake (6.1) here in the Bay Area at 3:20 this morning (centered in American Canyon, about 30 miles from us). I had been sound asleep, but woke up about 10 minutes before it hit. The building rocked and rolled, sliding closet doors rattled, pictures and such banged against the walls, but nothing fell.

My dog Cricket was asleep on the floor when it started, woke up, but stayed on the floor, didn't make a sound. When it was over, she jumped on my bed and stayed very close to me for the rest of the night. She went right back to sleep, but I did not, as my mind was busy.

First of all, starting when it got hot this summer, Cricket has taken to sleeping on the floor behind my bedroom chair, under the window. If the glass had broken, it could have easily fallen ON her. Second, I don't have her wear a collar in the house, but if we had to get out very quickly, getting to the collars and leashes in the other room would have slowed us down quite a bit. Third, my keys were on the same set of hooks by the front door as the dog collars and leashes. Fourth, I had no idea where my purse was. Fifth, I didn't have sneakers and socks under my bed any more. It's been 15 years since our last really bad earthquake and I've gotten lax about preparation and safety measures. I just spent some time getting things back in place inside.

I do, however, have jeans, sneakers and socks, extra sweatshirt for me, and collars, leashes, folding crate and dog dish, food, and water in my car. That's for all kinds of emergencies. So now I know how this dog reacts (she's been with me just 2 years) AND we're better prepared.

What other kinds of preparation have you done for earthquakes?
Earthquakes and the subsequent fires and floods are our biggest, most likely disasters here.

[Tradd]

I read on the FlyLady website that it's a very good idea to put your shoes and socks in a plastic bag and tie them to your bed frame. They don't get lost that way.

Not just for earthquake country, but to be prepared for anything (such as a house fire): my purse, with keys inside it, gets put on the chest at the foot of my bed each night when I go to bed.

[iris lilies]

Please, everyone tell me that you've got deadbolt locks with thumb turns on your doors so that you don't have to find your keys in order to get out of your house.

[mschrisgo2]

No, I don't need my keys to get OUT of my apartment, but I would need them to get back in, and of course, to get into my car.

I have friends in the hardest hit area of Napa. As of this afternoon, their Victorian era building is red-tagged, and it contains not just their home but both of their businesses. She said, "well, that ended the discussion, the decision was made for us, we aren't moving, because we can't get in to get anything out. We are simply relocating." Wow.

Fortunately none of the 3 of them were home; there is massive damage to the building, which had survived several other BIG quakes, including 1906, 1956, 1989.

[razz]

Glad that you are OK.

[Gardenarian]

It was quite loud and shaky where I live, but my dogs slept right through it (though I did hear other dogs barking and car alarms going off.)

[bae]

Please, everyone tell me that you've got deadbolt locks with thumb turns on your doors so that you don't have to find your keys in order to get out of your house.

My house has 7 different doors, generally none of them are locked. And lots of easy-to-exit windows.

[bae]

My earthquake plans locally are:

- I have two houses on this island (my Mom lives in one), on very different geological structures. My hope is that the more "normal" earthquakes we get here, and/or the resultant tsunami, will only take out one of them. Both have adequate supplies in the homes, and in lightly-constructed outbuildings, to persevere.

- I have a boat in the harbor that we could all live on for months if need be, if it wasn't wiped out by tsunami.

- I have enough gear in my rescue truck that we could manage for quite some time just with that. Plus I'm part of our USAR team, and have the tools/training/guys to Do Useful Things when something big happens.

- I have a backup copy of the county's emergency communications facility at my home, as my spot is likely to make it through all but the very worst of quakes, whereas the other facilities are more vulnerable.

- I keep copies of important family documents securely elsewhere, so if the house here is a total loss we can just walk away.


In truth, my worries aren't about the earthquake itself, but the aftermath - there likely will be wildfires here from structure fires cause by the 'quake, and we simply don't have enough people in the fire/rescue department to deal with more than 2 structure fires, much less resultant wide-spread wildfires. And then there will be all the medical attention needed, and our roads will be severely compromised, our communications mostly down, our power down, and we're at the very far end of the state's emergency response triage list, it will be weeks before we see any help here if there is a region-wide event.

[tetrimbath]

Yep. Life on an island. Self-sufficiency and lots of backups just make sense. Wish I had the boat. I've always liked that idea.

[JaneV2.0]

Maybe I'm a cock-eyed optimist, but I doubt that any earthquake that wasn't centered underneath my neighborhood would do that much damage to my house--which is sturdier than most. Thank God I don't have gas, and my neighbors don't either. If water is cut off, I have supplies and if I get desperate I can hike a couple of blocks to the lake. I had an unplanned opportunity to live through a week of 27-degree weather with no electricity, and survived. The 6.1 Nisqually quake left me unscathed, and I'm far enough from Mt. Rainier not to worry about lahars if it blows. If I'm wrong, I may find my house upside-down in my backyard...rrrrr

[RosieTR]

Man, earthquakes give me the heebie-jeebies. Glad everyone's OK.

But yes, we have thumb turns on our locks if we had to leave due to house fire or some such. The dogs have their collars on all the time, and are pretty well-trained at the "come" command. The older dog goes under the bed if anything is scary (thunder, fireworks, etc) so he'd probably be OK except in fire. The young dog is not as intelligent and has been known to go outside to watch lightning, so, um, I would worry in a tornado or really bad storm.

[Gardenarian]

A lot of people have been saying that the earthquake brought out the ants...and they showed up in my kitchen today.
Intriguing.