Earthquakes - Please Share What You Know And Help Others

I know from reading posts by people who have lived through some pretty bad quakes that there is no way to REALLY be prepared BUT, I thought it could be useful to share ideas, insights, experiences etc in case there are some items or whatever that may have been over looked by other ATSers. For example, I had no idea how important it it to have a special wrench/spanner to turn off your gas mains should the pipes go!
I grew up in Colorado and we always had a snake bite kit in the back of our car. We were prepared should the need arise. I am no expert on earthquakes by any means, and now live in the UK, but my sis moved to the outskirts of L A a few years ago and I want her to be prudent. JUST IN CASE. So she has her emergency box ready now with her Swiss army knife, wind-up radio etc and has stocked up on water gallons and what not.
Any one got helpful info to pass on - Just in case?

www.abovetopsecret.com... this thread has some good info on multiple emergency's

and this thread www.abovetopsecret.com... is about a good book on many different survival topics,


in the event of an earthquake immediatly get outside into a very open area like a feild, if near the coast you should run for the hills, observe tsunami evacuation routes, or have an escape plan prepared,

as far as the bug out bag goes depends on what sorta situation you want to prepare for,

a typical earthquake which destroys your home, it'd be good to have a bug out bag of the things you need to move on with, passport, money, transport essentials (driverslicense) basicaly a good earthquake bug out bag is one you can grab and run straight outside the house with nothing else but the bag and still go on with your life,

after that your considering survival essentials in the event of more hypothetical sittuations. like riots etc, (hint:shotgun)


edit - to say, i star and flaged you, i don't typicaly tell when i do that, but in this case i see you now have 0 flags and 0 stars? perhaps you lost them when you edited the OP and title?

reply to post by pryingopen3rdeye


Thanks - I'm still learning the ropes - only JUST got my avatar figured, but also think maybe title not strong enough or topic not interesting enough - I dunno. Pity as I feel this could be a good mixing pot of ideas and potentially get some folks out of trouble...

Its a good start that she has some gear to start with. Even here in NZ a lot of people are not prepared at all and expect the authorities to take care of everything for them.
From what we seen from the Christchurch earthquake a couple of weeks ago three things that came to light very quickly were the failure of the sewage system, loss of electric and cut off of the water supply.
So a shovel to dig a toilet in the yard and FRESH water might make the first day left to your own devices amongst the rubble a bit easier..
We replace our emergency water supply once a month, the stashed canned food every 6 months ( we eat it and buy some new stuff )

Being LA I guess some kind of self protection may be in order ( ie hand gun) to fend off the looters.

Off the top of my head:

During:

1) DO NOT stand in a doorway, DO NOT crouch under a table (unless you know it is strong enough to support the weight of the building you're in). Doorways (interior) can become points of collapse, while exterior doors can lose their lintils because of the shaking. Good way to get killed or maimed (or maimed, then killed). If the quake is bad enough to topple the building you're in, being under a table will crush you flat. Get to a point BESIDE something solid - ie. something that can't be crushed flat. Even a sofa will do - if the building collapses, and you're lying in front of your sofa, you will be in a pocket between the crushed sofa and the fallen ceiling (alive).

2) DO NOT run outside, and get off the damned stairs. Breaking glass and things falling off the roof are major injury points. In an office building, stay inside unless you absolutely must get out - windows and bricks can come loose and fall after a quake has stopped. Stairs tend to be OK after a quake, but running down them when the quake is happening is a good way to trip, fall, and break yourself.

3) Stay away from windows. For gods sake, don't try to open them or anything. I have seen people who have tried to do that, and they required a lot of stitches. Things are going to break. Accept it. There is nothing you can do about it.

Preparation:

1) Most of the gas meters in Japan have a breaker type device on them that "pops" when there is a quake, shutting off the natural gas to the building. Get one installed.

2) Casters are your friend. All of my furniture, save the sofa, kitchen table and chairs, are on casters. In quakes, the floor rolls back and forth under them, and they don't fall over. I have one bookshelf 6' x 4' x 2', fully laden with books, that has withstood two M7+ quakes without losing a single paperback. Easy to do, costs a couple of bucks, and makes cleaning a lot easier (bonus).

3) Dont mount heavy stuff on your walls. Chances are, it will come down.

Aftermath:

1) Relax. Yeah, earthquakes suck, but it's over. Assess the damage. Check for gas leaks. If there are none, have a cigarette. Be methodical. Check the radio for updates. Do a walk of your property, saying a safe distance from the building, checking for loose brickwork. If you need to evacuate, you will know. In my experience, you tend to have at least 10 minutes before an aftershock to get yourself together. When opening doors, if the door is "tight", exercise a bit of caution, because there has likely been structural damage somewhere.

2) Clean up. Curse yourself for not putting your plasma TV stand on casters.

reply to post by vox2442


Thanks for that thorough run through. Love the casters idea. Makes totral sense.

reply to post by 5senses


make sure you get the ones that rotate 360 degrees, and don't get locking ones (defeats the purpose). I find that the ones that have ball-shaped wheels react better than the others. I live in a high-risk earthquake zone - I get a M5 a few times a year - so this has been tested quite a bit...

reply to post by 5senses


There are three processes to detect, locate and map earthquakes before they strike; and they are in my YouTube videos called "Locate and Map Earthquakes Before They Strike; Determine Where, When & Magnitude Beforehand".

www.youtube.com...

Piezoseismology is an instrumental method of detecting earthquakes of any magnitude far enough in advance of their striking, in order to have successful evacuations before destructive earthquakes strike; without error. Why without error? Because destructive earthquakes are extremely powerful, and the extreme power of such earthquakes getting ready to strike is an incredible shock to your thoughts when you discover them, especially after having seen so many small ones that don't have anywhere near the power of the larger earthquakes.

What is a comparison of an M3 earthquake getting ready to strike compared to an M6+ earthquake getting ready to strike? The comparison is shocking to see, because a larger earthquake usually takes a week or longer to build up its strength. I've seen one M6+ earthquake take over 2 months to build up its strength.

When looking at the piezoseismic interior region of piezoseismic strength, an M3 earthquake (or smaller earthquake), is usually not much over a mile in diameter (across). While looking at the piezoseismic interior region of piezoseismic strength for an M6+; you'll be shocked to see that it's hundreds of miles across; and all of this can be seen days and weeks before the strike of the destructive earthquake.

Piezoseismology is a very new science, and it is very accurate, and no natural earthquake that causes damage at the surface of the earth can strike without it being detected in advance, as long as a calibrated piezoseismic system is operating within its detectable range, which is approximately 200 miles or more from the foci.

Originally posted by RussianScientists
reply to post by 5senses

 

There are three processes to detect, locate and map earthquakes before they strike; and they are in my YouTube videos called "Locate and Map Earthquakes Before They Strike; Determine Where, When & Magnitude Beforehand".

www.youtube.com...

Piezoseismology is a very new science, and it is very accurate, and no natural earthquake that causes damage at the surface of the earth can strike without it being detected in advance, as long as a calibrated piezoseismic system is operating within its detectable range, which is approximately 200 miles or more from the foci.

brilliant, where can i see a demonstration?

btw i liked the videos, only missing a demonstration and a explanation of how the device works, like what type of radiation specificaly is it that the earth stresses put off, and how does the detector mechanicaly function?