Tag Archives: john schelling

Environment, Features, News

The Earthquake Prep Details You Haven’t Thought of Yet

In Part 3 of this series (Parts 1 and 2), The SunBreak’s Northwest Earthquake Correspondent Arne Christensen asks John Schelling (@jdschelling) of the Washington Emergency Management Division about the earthquake preparation details we haven’t thought about. 

Arne has also written a previous series on earthquake preparedness in the tech sector, and the psychology of readiness. He also maintains this Nisqually Quake site, which collects stories on the subject. 

Could you share some information about the contents of your preparedness kit(s), especially anything that most people wouldn’t think to have in their kit or anything especially useful for earthquakes?

I like to think I have a pretty well stocked emergency kit for our family, and we keep part of it near the garage door, which most people use when they enter or leave our house. When visiting for the first time, friends and family take notice of the week’s worth of stored water for 3-4 people and politely joke, “Looks like you’re ready for the big one,” and I look at them quizzically and say “Yep, aren’t you?”

This usually leads to a discussion about what one should have in a disaster preparedness kit along with some encouragement to not let the rest of the week go by without putting at least one thing into a bin as a start. Putting together an emergency kit is easy and can be done on a budget! In fact, I suspect that many people will have most of these items already. However, they may be consolidated into some type of container in case they have to leave quickly.

Essential items should include: a battery-powered or hand-crank NOAA weather radio, at least a 3-day supply of nonperishable food (I like the kind that can be served on paper plates or in paper bowls requiring no water for cleanup!), a first aid kit, at least a week’s worth of medications and any necessary medical supplies, sanitation items and a portable shovel since you might need to dig a hole outside (don’t laugh, this is how folks in New Zealand did it for awhile last year), copies of important documents in a waterproof container, emergency blankets, pet supplies, if applicable ( I have a huge black lab, so they’re applicable to me), and I already mentioned water (at least three days of water–one gallon per person or pet per day), and some spare cash since ATMs and point of sale might not work.

When my daughter was younger, my wife and I learned the hard way that we needed to keep more diapers as part of our kit since you never know when the power will be out, stores will be closed, and debris will block the roadway, limiting your options. And believe me, no one wants to be stuck with a baby that has no diapers! Since no parent wants to run short on diapers or baby formula, this would be a good time to make sure you’ve got enough set aside to last for at least a week. Fortunately, for us, the debris in this case was snow from last winter’s storm, but we learned our lesson. My wife also discovered the benefit of having an LED headlamp rather than a traditional flashlight, so you have both of your hands free.

Parents, get your kids involved and let them pick out some snacks and food for your emergency stash, since they’ll be the ones that have to eat it and you’ll be the one that has to hear them complain that they don’t want to eat what you picked! Now that our daughter is older, we have had to replace some of the baby food she ate with Dora the Explorer Spaghetti O’s and other canned food that she would be willing to eat if we can only cook with our camp stove or barbecue grill.

As for earthquake specific items, I would suggest face and dust masks for use during clean up and an emergency toilet (basically a 5-gallon bucket with a seat) and garbage bags to use as liners. The reality is that water and sewer lines can and will break–especially in areas that are subject to liquefaction. You’ll be much more comfortable with this arrangement than going outside–especially during the windy and rainy winters in the Pacific Northwest.

What do you think the Northwest should learn from other places, I suppose California and Japan in particular, about how to deal with earthquakes?

I think we have to shift the way in which we view both earthquake preparedness and recovery. Earthquake and tsunami safety shouldn’t be a standalone issue, but a component of everything we do in earthquake country. The Japan earthquake and tsunami was an important event for all of us. Japan spends significantly more than the U.S. on earthquake mitigation and their buildings, and infrastructure outside of the tsunami hazard zone fared remarkably well. However, when it came to the tsunami, they were planning for the most probable event, not the worst case possible event. This is why we saw water flowing over the top of their seawalls and penetrating their other defenses.

In Washington and throughout the Pacific Northwest we have not had the vast written history that a nation like Japan does, so our focus has been on looking at the geological record. What we find is that our subduction zone, Cascadia, has produced earthquakes and tsunamis regularly enough to know that it averages a M9+ earthquake every 500-600 years, but this is an average, which means that some earthquakes have occurred only a few hundred years apart and others much longer.

When the next one will happen is anyone’s best guess, so we need to be vigilant and ready. This means looking at the concept of resilience in terms of our systems, infrastructure, and buildings. The reality is that if we do not make seismic safety investments in these aspects of our communities during peacetime, people, property, the environment, and our economy will suffer the effects afterwards. The Washington State Seismic Safety Committee has been examining these issues and is working on a project entitled “The Resilient Washington State Initiative” to get a better snapshot of where we are today and what we can do to buy down tomorrow’s recovery at today’s rates.

Environment, Features, Health, News

Prepared for an Earthquake? It’s Disaster Preparedness Month.

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In Part 1 of this series, The SunBreak’s Northwest Earthquake Correspondent Arne Christensen checks in with John Schelling (@jdschelling) of the Washington Emergency Management Division about earthquake preparation, in advance of the state’s ShakeOut preparedness drill on October 18th. Arne has also written a previous series on earthquake preparedness in the tech sector, and the psychology of readiness. He also maintains this Nisqually Quake site, which collects stories on the subject. 

Still from the movie 2012 (Columbia Pictures)

Aside from “drop, cover, and hold on,” what’s the most important thing people can do to prepare for earthquakes?

Anything! If people can do at least one more thing to become better prepared for an earthquake, they will definitely be prepared for the disasters that occur more frequently in Washington. Personally, I recommend everyone have a plan! It doesn’t have to be something long and complex…a piece of paper or two will work just fine.

Your plan should include some basic details, such as phone numbers for out-of-area contacts (best to have more than one in case your first choice isn’t home!), and depending upon your situation it should include numbers for schools, daycares, adult family homes, primary care doctors, and numbers for vets and locations of pet-friendly hotels if you have loved ones with four legs.

Your plan should identify specifically where you will meet your family in your neighborhood, as well as places that you would meet in case your home and neighborhood are inaccessible. Our family meeting place inside our neighborhood is at a park next to our house, in case we have a fire or have to evacuate separately. Outside of our neighborhood, we plan to meet at my wife’s office. You should contact your local emergency management office or Red Cross Chapter to determine locations of shelters in your area and have a primary and secondary choice. You may also want to include phone numbers for the shelters in your plan.

Can you see the theme here? Yep, it’s redundancy. It is best to have a primary and a secondary choice for each part of your emergency plan since we cannot rely on just a single point of contact, rendezvous point, etc. Also, make sure all of your family members have a copy in a waterproof container, like a ziplock baggie, that they can keep in a backpack, car, school, office, and home.

What people, families, neighborhoods, communities, do today to prepare will determine how quickly they recover from our next disaster. It will also give them peace of mind knowing that they have done everything they can to help themselves and their families. Building and exercising a plan allows a person to spring into action rather than by crippled by fear or panic when faced with an otherwise frightening situation.

4.0 or greater Northwest quakes from 1970 to 2010 (Chart: Arne Christensen)

Do you think people should try to make themselves more mindful of disaster threats on a day-by-day basis (such as noting the Northwest’s many small earthquakes), to educate and train themselves for when a disaster does happen? Or would that simply create a lot of useless worry?

Since Washington generally experiences on average four or so earthquakes per day, I wouldn’t suggest that people try and keep track of them or needlessly worry. However, I would highly recommend over the course of one year Pacific Northwesterners do at least one activity per month to help themselves and their families become better prepared.

We’ve developed an easy to follow program called “Prepare in a Year,” which is designed to help people get ready over a 12-month period by dedicating just one hour per month to emergency preparedness.

Already prepared? Well…now it’s time to think global and act local. Okay, maybe not global, but at least think about your neighbors! If you haven’t met them before an earthquake, I can almost guarantee that you’ll meet them afterwards. So, why not start working together to get your street, your cul-de-sac, the floor in your apartment building, ready beforehand?

Wouldn’t it be great to know by name exactly who you could turn to in your neighborhood for a skill or a resource in an emergency? Think about how reassuring it would be to know that your neighbors two doors down have CPR training, or that your neighbor across the street is a licensed amateur radio operator and can communicate directly with responders when phones are down?

To help make neighborhood and community preparedness easier, we’ve created an award-winning program called Map Your Neighborhood, which builds on the age-old concept that neighbors can help neighbors respond and recover from the events that Mother Nature throws our way. You can check out our website and then contact your local emergency management office to get involved.

I also suggest that when you feel a smaller earthquake or hear about something happening halfway around the world, like the Japan earthquake and tsunami, pause–for just a minute–and really assess what you have done to date. Would you have been ready? If not, take that first step: I promise you’ll feel so much better after you do! There’s no need to worry if you take steps ahead of time to prepare your family, your home, and your workplace for the unexpected.