Prepare? Absolutely. I can't speak to the state of California's earthquake preparedness, but there should absolutely be supplies and equipment stationed throughout the state in preparation for it. It is my understanding that San Francisco, for example, has water cisterns throughout the city for fighting fires in such a scenario.
It is dumb not to prepare for disasters we know will happen.
You should only prep for disaster if you want to survive a disaster, which is rare for more people. I live in earthquake country, and though I have not experienced anything larger than M4 in the past 28 years, stochastically we can expect a very large ($BILLIONS, with massive short term problems) quake at some point in Northern California in the next 50 years.
The items I describe fit on a single shelf (except the water; I have a water filter and a nearby stream, so I only keep a few liters on hand).
Californians especially are woefully unprepared for disaster. I started a local company (http://expresssurvival.com) selling survival kits and emergency gear to try to help the community get prepared and realize the importance of having those supplies when that next earthquake hits.
Most of us understand that its not a matter of if, but when we will need those emergency supplies, but as someone pointed out earlier, we are "whistling past the graveyard."
> Apart from a certain segment of the population with large gun caches and a year's worth of food stockpiled, most people don't have any contingency plan or emergency supplies.
I'd say that I'm part of the periphery of that community. I certainly don't have a year's worth of food on hand, but I do have enough supplies to make it make it a couple of weeks at home without worry, and a plan to make a short journey to another family member's home if the emergency were to last longer than that.
For every serious "prepper" out there that have supplies for months or years, I suspect that are dozens of us that could at least outlast the immediate emergency and could "self-extract" from a disaster area.
> When California gets hit by a big earthquake (Magnitude 8 level), I can guarantee it's going to be complete chaos, despite the fact that we know it's going to happen.
Based solely on my own observations, I think California would be fine. Their buildings are generally designed for that eventuality, and an earthquake there would be geographically isolated and the disruption would be fairly short.
What really scares me is the New Madrid. I can only imagine the chaos and destruction in places like St. Louis and Memphis should there be a repeat of the 1811/1812 earthquakes.
Hopefully you're able to translate experience to preparedness, if you weren't already, and given California propensity for earthquakes (where the Tubbs fire occurred), that you have enough food and water stockpiled for at least a few days, if not longer. These days an earthquake preparedness kit might also consider including a small solar panel and an old cell-phone.
I haven't done too much, but that's because I'm generally prepared with 2 months food/water supply for general purpose emergencies. Living in the Pacific Northwest, we're expecting a pretty large earthquake as we're statistically overdue. Once panic has set in, it's too late to prepare for much of anything. Preparing is taking action beforehand, not after. I mean, if we even get news of 100 degree weather in this part of the country, the air conditioners fly off the shelves. When there's a possibility of a snow storm, everybody panics at once and empties the grocery shelves.
Natural disasters, yes. Many of us in hurricane-prone areas stock up on batteries, LP gas, water, easy food before the season starts. One or two-week power outages are no fun.
A friend of mine in SoCal keeps earthquake supplies in multiple closets in his home, to improve the odds that he'll at least have water in case of a partial collapse. He takes earthquake preparedness very seriously.
One of the interesting things I've done over the years is look at earthquakes and analyzed different preparedness strategies. Top three learnings, post earthquake living is just like camping so keeping current on camping skills and gear means you are ready to camp out on you lawn; medically trained people are easier to find than supplies put a laceration kit in your go bag, if you need it finding a nurse or doctor is easier than finding supplies; water filtration is easier than water storage, keep infrastructure that can hold water but it doesn't have to be full. That said having your cold water supply go through a 50 gallon tank means it is constantly replaced and when you shut off the water you still have 50 gallons to work with.
In my car my bag has a laceration kit, water purifier straw and, hydration bladder. Also comfortable shoes for hiking and a hat. I can walk from anywhere in the Bay Area home in 2 days so that is the prep window.
Evaluate the risks for where you live and have the appropriate supplies. In the Bay Area, for example, you should be ready for a large earthquake. You should also be ready for common scenarios such as extended utility outages.
On the tamer side of things, general disaster preparedness is smart. FEMA has a pretty good website[1] dedicated to the topic.
I'm probably not alone in saying my emergency supply consists of a bunch of uneaten Soylent sitting neglected in a low cupboard. I also live in Seattle, where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are a real threat. So really, I ought to start taking my own advice here.
History channel shows and the like give preppers a bad name, but prepping, as highlighted in this article, doesn't need to involve guns and bunkers. In fact, your own government probably wants you to be prepping (at least the US does):
If you find yourself worrying about things like earthquakes and fires, there's an extra benefit to prepping: you can rest easy knowing you've done what you can.
If you live in (most parts of) California, you should be prepared for an earthquake, including a few days without water, at minimum. Wildfires and power outages are another risk that it is absolutely rational to prepare for, in many locations.
If this article is right and there is a risk of a large earthquake that will release a century of pressure buildup, it might be good to keep a week or two worth of supplies, including a bucket with attachable toilet seat lid, bag of saw dust, and a shovel to bury the waste.
If you're in a home, you might want to make sure that your supplies are more easily accessible from the perimeter of your structure in case enough damage is done that your home is not able to be entered. Ideally, a backyard shed or storage box would be the best place to store your supplies. If that's not available, in a garage near the rolling door or by a back door of the house.
If as much damage occurs to water and waste water infrastructure as they fear, and if your home becomes inaccessible, it might be prudent to make sure that you also have several changes of clothes and a pair of boots in your kit.
Basically, pretend that you're preparing for a week-long camping trip in the middle of nowhere and pack accordingly. Tent, sleeping bag, clothing, supplies, small solar panel to charge a phone, etc. It'll take a lot more space but it will make the (potential) experience a lot more tolerable.
I'm working off the rumors [0] that California has a massive long term problem which is generally being ignored by successive governments. I don't see how they can sustain an emergency preparedness program if they have that sort of business-as-usual preparedness problem. Step 1 to me is always be prepared for the most-likely future case, then step 2 is prepare for progressively less likely scenarios.
Efficiency aside, that feels like awful planning to me. Growing up in the Bay Area, the threat of a significant earthquake has been ever-present. My family always had several dozen bottles of water and a reasonable amount of canned/jarred/dried food around.
Being prepared has nothing to do with it. Nobody was prepared for the Anchorage earthquake of 1964, but within minutes people had self-organized into firefighting and excavation teams, set up emergency response relays with a hodgepodge of walkie-talkies, police radio, and AM broadcasters, and within hours there was a centralized volunteer dispatch and food bank.
Relying on your neighbors in a disaster doesn't mean hiding out in their anti-zombie bunker. It means knowing that the entire community will respond together to overcome the emergency.
As someone who routinely deals with hurricanes in the South - make your decision right now whether to go spent a few days with friends or to stay at home. If you wait too long the roads get clogged with traffic [0], the gas stations run out of fuel, and emergency services stop responding.
So far as preparedness, if you have an earthquake kit you should already have much of what you need. Just add a chainsaw and some large plastic tarps.
back in the early 90s, they used to teach this stuff in schools here in california (earthquake prep). it wasn't crazy at all, it was widely accepted that you should have supplies for up to a week at home. i remember homework assignments in elementary school related to this.
SF and LA were hit hard in 80s/90s by big earthquakes - that actually happened. i grew up less than 20 miles from northridge - i remember eating granola bars and boiling water after the northridge quake. this shit actually happened to me; i ate actual fucking granola bars that we kept in actual ziploc bags because our electricity actually didn't work and the stores were actually closed. we surely wouldn't have starved, but they sure did come in handy when you're hungry right after a huge earthquake. do you want to beg your neighbors for a snack?
since that era we've had 2 genuine city-level SHTF situations (LA riots and Katrina, more if you count 9/11 and lesser storm systems) and for some reason preparedness has become less of a concern. 20 years pass and people just forget. memories are short. not mine.
i know multiple people who had to defend their lives and livelihoods with guns. real, normal people who now work in tech like you and me, who had to stand on roof tops with guns, in the middle of LA. right next to downtown. imagine this happening in midtown manhattan, or market street in sf. it's sheer madness, and it actually happened. and i'm sure anyone in the other LA (louisiana) can tell the same kinds of stories. and where were the cops? that's right - nowhere to be found when the shit hits the fan.
it can, and will, happen again. i think as you get older you start to realize just how tenuous civilized society really is and how quickly it can revert to an animalistic shitstorm. i keep several jerry cans of water and canned/dried food in my place, and am capable of defending myself. people think i'm crazy when i tell them i have this stuff. i think you're crazy if you don't. i know exactly what it's like to be woken up violently in the middle of the night and find that everything around you has gone straight to hell.
There's a lot of ifs to all that. I think if I were going to do something to prepare for disaster, I'd have a big store of water and shelf-stable foods on hand first.
Disaster preparedness in the general sense is actually a pretty good idea.
The basics in any situation are largely the same. A supply of water, and/or water purification means. A food supply. Shelter, such as a tent or sleeping bag. Sturdy clothes and boots. Flashlights. A radio that doesn't require mains power to operate.
Inventorying your possessions, knowing what community resources exist, and having proper insurance also helps.
Bdale Garbee made a pretty heart-wrenching presentation (though uplifting overall) of his family's experience with utter devastation which arrived on a few moments' notice. Not an earthquake, but a wildfire, which reduced his Colorado home and possessions to ashes and puddles of molten metal.
It's instructive.
In other areas, hazards include tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, landslides, fire, tsunami, and civil unrest or war. In pretty much all of these cases, a basic "earthquake kit" is a pretty good start on being prepared and increasing your odds of survival and/or comfort should circumstances turn south.
Sometimes people just have fear of an event occurring, and disaster preparedness is a way to help calm that fear and gain a sense of control. I'll confess that the threat of a nuclear exchange with North Korea has caused me a fair amount of concern in the last six months. But reading about nuclear attacks and disaster preparedness has helped me manage that concern.
Moving away is a different kind of preparation; it's certainly not doing nothing. Moving is a lot more extreme than keeping some spare food & water in your basement.
Prepare? Absolutely. I can't speak to the state of California's earthquake preparedness, but there should absolutely be supplies and equipment stationed throughout the state in preparation for it. It is my understanding that San Francisco, for example, has water cisterns throughout the city for fighting fires in such a scenario.
It is dumb not to prepare for disasters we know will happen.
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