Earthquakes

[jaimealmostRN]

Has anyone ever been through an earthquake? What was it like? I was reading the CA and Nevada info sites and got scared! What did you do with your pets/young kids to keep them safe? Thanks! :imbar

[amber74]

That is so funny.Everytime Ive gone on a trip to another state,thats the first question out of peoples mouths.They would rather go through a tornado than a earthquake.

Since childhood Ive been through earthquakes.They don't happen very often,and usually are very mild.I went through the 1989 earthquake in the bay area.California has strict buliding codes.Where you see the most damge are homes that are older.

I have never been hurt in one.

They usually have two kinds.A roller(feels like a wave)and a shaker(feels like a train going through)You really have nothing to worry about.They rarely happen.When they do,the media makes a bigger deal out of it.

They say to go under a doorway or strong table.Truthfully, Im more afraid of a tornado...you cant get away from that!

[begalli]

Like amber74 said, the building codes are somewhat of a comfort. However, it's been almost 15 years since the last big quake and buidlings and bridges that were found to be inadequate then are still not retrofitted.

I was only several miles from the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. I lived in Santa Cruz. It was an experience that changed my life for many many years and still today in some aspects.

Prior to this quake, I had only lived in CA for about 4 years and had only experienced "small" quakes that used to make me giggle because they caused me to be a little dizzy and momentarily disoriented. It was like having a little buzz.

But after seeing my neighbors losing their homes, merchants losing their businesses, and people losing their lives I started taking the temblors, even the small ones, very seriously. After seeing the freeway collapse in Oakland, still to this day I feel very uncomfortable sitting under an overpass in car.

But you do learn to live with the possibility/eventuality. Being prepared and educated is the number one thing. Neighborhood disaster training is a big thing here. Most cities, at least in northern California have Certified Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. Neighborhoods can organize to kick into action if a big quake should hit. We learn search and rescue, basic firefighting, and of course first aid with cpr (advanced for those in the healthcare area such as myself).

We learn about the possibility of flooding, gas leaks, where the main sewers/water lines are in our area, and so much more. Each prepared neighborhood and person or family who chooses to participate is prepared to survive on it's/their own without any outside help from local fire/ambulance/police for 72 hours. There is a hamm operator in my neighborhood who would hook up directly with the OES for communications. Each neighborhood ideally has a hamm operator.

It's comforting to know that many of my neighbors have disaster training.

There are also strict requirements for school, childcare center, and public places for preparedness. Kids are taught to duck and cover. It's a way of life here, really.

During the 1989 quake, my son was 10 months old. It was just about 5 pm and I was watching the end of Oprah and my son was on the floor in front of the television playing. As soon as the show ended I picked him up to carry him into the kitchen with me to start preparing dinner. As soon as I picked him up it was like a bomb had dropped outside my front door. I fumbled and stumbled my way to the hallway leading to the bathroom and wedged my son between my knees and braced myself in my bathroom doorway.

The shaking and rolling was so severe that I ended up on my butt on the floor with him still between my legs. As I looked around my house, half of it would rise like what seemed to be about 10-15 feet and then lower as the other half rose. Truly surreal and in slow motion. Seemed like it lasted forever but in reality only lasted 15 seconds.

We slept outside that night in a tent with a group of neighbors.

The next day every muscle in my body was so sore. I had a bruise down my back and on the inside of each thigh. My son was fine and I'm so glad he was so young. He was spared the emotional trauma that older children suffered. I think I suffered from some post traumatic stress for a couple of years...everytime a big truck would drive by I would feel the rumbling and my adreline would go wild!

I could go on and on about the aftershocks and the aftermath, but the one thing that will ALWAYS stand out in my mind is that when that initial "bomb" hit, my television hit the floor EXACTLY where my son was playing. If I had not picked him up to bring him with me to the kitchen, the 32 inch TV would have fallen on him. He would have been injured terribly. Needless to say, these days everthing is secured in my house.

The funny thing I will never forget is to keep my toilet lid closed. As I was wedged in the bathroom door, I watched all the items I had on a shelf above the commode fall into the open bowl!!

So there ya go. That's my experience and I don't want to minimize anyone's natural disasters by any means, but I'd much rather have a little warning to get out of town or to a secure area when an impending disaster is about to happen!

On the other hand, I learned that we are simply visitors on this great earth, little dots in the greater scheme of things. Mother nature has awesome powers. Also - I would not want to live anywhere in the country but where I live now...earthquakes and all! :)

[begalli]

oops

[jaimealmostRN]

Thank you guys for posting. If all goes as planned, I will be moving to CA this early spring-ish. I'm from NJ and, in my lifetime, there hasn't been any real emergencies besides a big snow storm or two. I'm really not concerned with myself though. I know to stand in the doorways. But I have pets that I would be worried about if I wasn't home or anything. I guess my best bet would be to buy a newly built townhome or something. Thanks again!

Jaime

Anyone else want to share?

[veteranRN]

I moved to So. Ca. two weeks before the Whittier earthquake (5.9). It must have been a rolling one because that is exactly how I would describe it. I could hear it rolling closer and closer. Actually, I didn't know what it was but then it hit and the bed I was in just shook back and forth. I was scared to death. I couldn't sleep for days after that. But the others are right, the media make a bigger issue out of each little earthquake. Just like tornado season around here. Yes be prepared but don't go overboard. Now hurricanes are another story:uhoh3:

[RNKPCE]

I also experienced the Loma Prieta Quake in 1989. I was at home and my husband was outside. When the rolling started it seemed like it was never going to end. I really only felt little shakes before. I thought it was the end and ran through the house trying to get outside to my husband. I had socks on my feet and ended up slipping and hitting my head on a door frame and fell and landed on my hip. I was also aprox 16 weeks pregnant at the time. I ended up in the ER just to make sure everything was okay with the baby. Boy was the ER a mess. They were in disaster mode They ended up sending me to L&D and an OB up there found my babies fetal heart tones and I was sent home

Physically I was fine but emotionally I was a wreck for several weeks after. I went to work the next day and had to leave I was so freaked out. Pregnancy hormones I am sure didn't help.

I have a picture taken in the post partum room after I gave birth to my daughter the following spring and on the wall above my head you can see a large crack in the wall that the hospital had taped up but had yet to repair.

Never experienced anything like that since, and hopefully won't.

PS... I think the earthquake was on a Tuesday night and I had my ER bill by the next Monday. It was amazing all the paperwork got done that fast in that chaos.

[live4today, RN]

Actually, the largest earthquake ever is due to occur this Fall in California which is why I left there mid-July so I would have plenty of time to get far enough away before it hit. Yes,,,,,it's coming alright.............prepare if you go there this Fall. Nonetheless...I still love CA! :)

[begalli]

Are you psychic cheerful? How could you possibly know that a devastating earthquake will strike in the fall?

Where does you prediction come from and why aren't you filthy rich for knowing this?

[dianah, ASN]

I received the following email recently, which I thought was apropos. Snopes.com had nothing negative (nothing, period) about this. Seems to be legit; makes sense. Very thought-provoking, if nothing else.

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON THE

> "TRIANGLE OF LIFE", Edited by Larry Linn for MAA Safety

> Committee brief on 4/13/04.

>

> My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of The American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

>

> I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries. I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation (UNX051 -UNIENET) for two years. I have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

>

> In 1996 we made a film which proved my survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul, University of Istanbul, Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did "duck and cover," and ten mannequins I used in my "triangle of life" survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we

crawled through the rubble and entered the building to film and document the results.

>

> The film, in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific conditions, relevant to building collapse, showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover. There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using my method of the "triangle of life." This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the rest of Europe, and it was seen in the USA, Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.

>

> The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in

Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under their desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn't at the time know that the children were told to hide under something.

>

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the "triangle of life". The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for

safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed

buildings, on television, count the "triangles" you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building. They are everywhere.

>

> I trained the Fire Department of Trujillo (population 750,000) in how to survive, take care of their families, and to rescue others in earthquakes.

>

> The chief of rescue in the Trujillo Fire Department is a professor at Trujillo University. He accompanied me everywhere. He gave personal testimony: "My name is Roberto Rosales. I am Chief of Rescue in Trujillo. When I was 11 years old, I was trapped inside of a collapsed building. My entrapment occurred during the earthquake of 1972 that killed 70,000 people. I survived in the "triangle of life" that existed next to my brother's motorcycle. My friends who got under the bed and under desks were crushed to death [he gives more details, names, addresses etc.]... I am the living example of the "triangle of life". My dead friends are the example of "duck and cover".

>

> TIPS DOUG COPP PROVIDES:

>

> 1) Everyone who simply "ducks and covers" WHEN

> BUILDINGS COLLAPSE is crushed to death -- Every time,

> without exception. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are always crushed.

>

> 2) Cats, dogs and babies all naturally often curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa,next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.

>

> 3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. The reason is simple: the wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse,large survival voids are created. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight.

>

> Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will

> cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

>

> 4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed.

> Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room, telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.

>

> 5) If an earthquake happens while you are watching television and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

>

> 6) Everybody who gets under a doorway when buildings

> collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!

>

> 7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different "moment of frequency" (they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped

up by the stair treads. They are horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged.

Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by screaming, fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

>

> 8) Get near the outer walls of buildings or outside of them if possible. It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.

>

> 9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles, says the author.

>

> Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

>

> 10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

[Mimi2RN, ASN, RN]

I live in Central Cali, we haven't had any major quakes around here. We did feel the Northridge earthquake (150 miles or so away). I was at work, and we heard the core of the building moving. We lived down south for several years, and managed to be out of town when anything happened. There is no doubt that we are due for a major quake, but I haven't seen anything about one being on the schedule for this fall.

I think i'd rather deal with the quakes than the hurricanes and tornadoes.

That's a very good article about safety. It makes sense to stay next to a piece of furniture, instead of under it. Useful email you received, dianah!

[dianah, ASN]

I've lived in Calif. most of my life. For the most part we just ride out the quakes. I do know there is a big one coming, and it will be unlike anything we've felt so far. When it comes, it comes. It will rock and roll, and then it'll stop and we'll pick up the pieces. Such is life.