Posted on 09/26/2014 1:28:19 PM PDT by BenLurkin
NORTHRIDGE (CBSLA.com) — Medical and seismic experts Friday warned residents of the dangers of not being prepared for major earthquakes at home and at work.
Dr. Stephen Jones and Caltech seismologist expert Kate Hutton addressed the media at Northridge Hospital Medical Center about recent quakes in the region and how residents can prepare for the next major earthquake.
As part of the presentation entitled “Earthquake Amnesia – Are We Prepared?”, Jones told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO that 20 years after the devastating 1994 quake, a new generation born since then has mostly forgotten the “extreme high risk” for injuries and losses on catastrophic levels from a quake of similar or greater magnitude.
Loss of water, electricity, damaged roadways and lack of communication could leave thousands of residents highly vulnerable without sufficient preparedness, according to Jones, who said it’s the responsibility of each person to be self-sufficient and not to rely on emergency responders.
“One of the first things was we saw a lot of injuries from patients coming in who were trying to run or escape or get out of where they were, and a lot of it was people running on broken glass,” said Jones. “So one of the first things we say is get a pair of shoes under your bed ready to go.”
Jones also recommends having a flashlight near the bed and a first aid kit – including a supply of medications – on hand in the event of an evacuation following a quake.
Large pieces of furniture such as cabinets and hutches should also be bolted to wall studs and not simply attached to the drywall, according to Jones.
Hutton also discussed a program from Caltech along with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to test a statewide Earthquake Early Warning System (EEWS) in the city of Long Beach.
The USGS would need about $16 million annually to implement the Early Warning System along the West Coast, similar to a system already in place in Mexico, according to officials.
Lucy Jones, a government seismologist, says the odds of a Northridge-size or larger quake in the next 30 years is 99.9 percent.
We can’t even get people to remember disasters that occurred just 4 years earlier.
Helped out by a massive media effort to erase that day from our history.
Hey, they spend all this time and money to make liberals forget everything, and then they want them to remember earthquakes?
Dude, my iPhone is bending, get back to me later.
The best way to prepare for a 9.x here is to be out of town that week.. And hope the house burns to the ground if you don’t have quake insurance. Never have, never will.
It’s coming,, some say long overdue.
We have a pool, so water ain’t the issue. Although we lost a foot of water in the Loma Prieta.
Hoarding is evil, or something.
I would love to be out of town for the next one. (So long as my cat was safely with me.)
What I’d really like to know is whether the scientists at Caltech have their own pool going on when the next one will hit.
Hoarding is racist and causes global warming.
I’ll take an earthquake over enemy islamism within our government anyday
Can hoarding get you shot in Kaliforna yet?
I didn’t forget in the least (I was in Northridge).
I left Kali over 10 years ago.
I was up at the time and the lights went out from the 1st earthquake then came back on then off again when the 2nd earthquake hit that felt like a jackhammer going off bouncing everything in the valley.
Anyone who says just stand in a doorway for protection has not been in an earthquake. I could not get to the front door as all my stuff was flying about and blocked my way. I could not see anything. The kitchen had all the food stuffs thrown out of the cupboards. The other rooms were littered and I tripped over all my stuff until I could find a flashlight.
Anytime a heavy truck rumbles by I get nervous.
One thing I remember is how dark the sky was as the city lights were out along with all in the San Fernando valley where I lived. I saw the Milky Way.
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