Friday, August 6, 2010
Earthquake survival kit
California has earthquakes. It's a seismically active area, with a lot of large fault lines (one of the biggest ones just under Berkeley as it happens), so chances are I will experience an earthquake while I'm here. I'm sort of looking forward to it. Not a big one, but a small one. I've felt earthquakes before, but on the Swedish magnitude (the last one I actually mistook for a tractor plowing snow outside). I'm not looking for a disaster here, but a small to medium-sized one. Something that shakes the walls and gets the heart pounding. It would be interesting to experience it, that's all. Of course if you mention this to someone who has experienced them, you will get some good advice. Hide under the bed. Or a table. Or next to a sofa. Stay away from windows. Don't run out in the streets (apparently a common fatality reason in earthquakes is people running out in panic and getting hit by cars). As a kid I heard something about standing in door frames, but apparently recent findings prefer the sofa. And get an earthquake survival kit. Water, cans, and a can opener. That piece of advice I heeded on my fist visit to the local Trader Joe's (and to think my adviser thinks I never listen to him... :-).
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To support your strive for a pounding heart ... When you start experience an earthquake, remember that the Haywards' fault with 30% likelyhood is projected to cause the next Big One :-)
ReplyDeleteTo find out where the Hayward fault line is more precisely, check out the cracks in the seatings of UC Berkeley Stadium.
Have you subscribed to the Earthquake Notification Service? This is a close as you get to an "earthquake-as-a-service", and possibly a sufficient alternative to the "earthquake week" in the paper.
Located a set of parallel cracks in the pavement outside the stadium yesterday when walking to an even at I-House, I'll keep it in mind (and have added nuts and berries to my survival kit :-).
ReplyDeleteI found a free iPhone app to track earthquakes in the bay area (Bay Area Earthquakes Lite), seems to pull data from the national geological service. You can list them by time or magnitude. So far today we've had 13 in the Bay Area (it´s lunch time) and 6 over 3.3 in magnitude this week.
This place rocks! :-)