Ways to Survive the Big Earthquake

Posted on Aug 7, 2012

If you’ve ever lived on the west coast you know how frequently earthquakes hit. The fact is that in any given week there are over one hundred of them out there. Heck, the San Francisco Bay Area alone has five fault lines running under it.

Most of these west coast shakers are below a 2.5, so they aren’t discernable to humans, but it goes to show that that part of the US is constantly moving and is never too far away from an enormous earthquake.

In fact, there have been recent studies that say that the San Andreas fault is on a 30 year cycle for “the big one.” And seeing that it’s been about 20 years or so since California had a “big one” it’s of some concerns to the citizens there.

In fact, the California state government has a program to help its citizenry prepare for large earthquakes. The program is called, Shakeout, and it is conducted every year.

Basically, it’s a brief tutorial on what to do if a big earthquake should hit. This tutorial instructs an individual to get on their hands and knees, and to secure themselves underneath a table or inside a doorway. The idea is to put yourself in a position that is deemed the safest within the structure.

What most Californians already know to do is to create an earthquake survival kit. In this kit, they put any items they believe will help them through the aftermath of an earthquake. These items consist of non-perishable foods, bottled water, and medical supplies.

Now, it should be noted that not everyone creates an earthquake survival kit for the same reason that many people don’t create a hurricane survival kit or a tornado survival kit: they can’t be bothered.

In fact, studies show that nearly half of the west coast population has done little to no preparation at all for post-earthquake preparedness. However, it is the hope that with these government programs, which stress the necessity of such provisions, that more people will begin to do so.

This is all to say that no matter where you live it is of the utmost importance to prepare you and your family for any natural disasters. Also, you don’t need to go to a disaster specific site to get information about how to create one of these kits. Many times what would save your life in a tornado’s aftermath would save your life in the aftermath of an earthquake.