How To Prepare For An Earthquake Part 2

How To Prepare Yourself For An Earthquake(Part 2 How To Plan For An Earthquake)

In my last post I listed some ways you can prepare your home for an earthquake. In this post I’ll show you some things you can do to prepare yourself and family for one. How you prepare for an earthquake will vary depending on where you live, how much space you have, how big your family is, and last but not least what your budget is.

Have a plan

Before you can do anything, before you buy a single piece of kit you need to sit down and come up with a plan of action. It’s important to keep your plan simple since things change rapidly and usually not the way you want them too. Your plan needs to be broken down into the five following steps

a. Where to hide

b. Bug out bag or 72 hour kit

c. Exit Strategy

d. Meet up Point

e. What’s next?

Where to hide

First look at your home and decide where all the safe places are when an earthquake strikes. These include places such as standing in doorways, and hiding under a desk or table. Because each home is different spend some time looking around for the safest possible areas in your home and instruct your family of what those places are. Make sure when searching your home for suitable hiding places that you pick areas away from glass, falling objects, or other hazards as much as possible.

Bug out bag or 72 hour kit

Some people treat these as two separate types of emergency preparedness kits, the reality is that both are the same with a different name and serve the same function, which is to provide you and your family with emergency kit to survive an emergency or disaster until help arrives. However you decide to make your bug out bag or 72 hour emergency kit again decides upon your budget and individual needs, but what is standard for everyone is that your bug out bag needs to be kept up to date at all times, and that EVERYONE who lives with you must know what’s inside it, and where it is.

Exit Strategy

Once the earthquake is over you need to decide if it’s safe to stay or if you have to leave. Remember that with every earthquake there will be aftershocks, so unless the building you’re in is about to collapse it’s a good idea to stay put until it’s safe to leave. Do a quick damage inspection to look for structural weakness, electrical and fire hazards and if possible turn them off.

If your home is unsafe and you’re forced to leave remember to only take essential items with you extra clothes, food, water, and your bug out bag are your priorities. Your T.V is not a priority and as much as it sucks leaving it behind remember it can be replaced.

When leaving an apartment or high rise building remember to not use the elevators even if their working. You can’t tell how badly they could be damaged and if there safety devices are still working. Stick to the stairs.

Meet up Point

When an earthquake happens chances are good that you or other members of your family could be separated. Make sure that everyone knows where the meet up or rendezvous point is. Your meet up point should be in an area that’s as open as possible such as field for example. You also want to avoid areas close to power lines and other visible hazards.

What’s Next?

Now that you have a plan you can use to prepare for an earthquake it’s now time to actually prepare for one. To do that do the following

a. Let everyone know what the plan is and what they need to do. Get them involved in the process to help smooth over any details or highlight areas you might have missed.

b. Rehearse on a regular schedule what you need to do and where your meet up point is. It’s also a good idea to have additional meet up points if available.

c. Take courses, training such as basic first aid is reasonably priced and available pretty much anywhere. If you can afford to get everyone in your family first aid certified.

d. Keep your bug out bag up to date, make sure to replace expired or used items and make sure that everything works.