Improving Your Odds Of Survival After The ‘Big One’

Preparing ahead of time can greatly improve your odds of surviving an earthquake when the “big one” hits.

But you may not appreciate the importance of those early preparations until the minutes hours and days after a major seismic event

Dennis Mileti, a sociologist and the vice chair of the California Seismic Safety Commission, says desert residents are dangerously unprepared for our next major quake way overdue and that could strike anytime.

Mileti believes residents simply ignore a dangerous event enough to think it won’t happen any time.

“Mother Nature causes earthquakes, but human beings cause earthquake disasters by the nature of what they do, or don’t do.”

The earthquake we can expect to see hasn’t been felt in California since 1680, according to experts. That comes with aftershocks that will be larger than the Northridge and Loma Prieta quakes.

After a major quake check, yourself for injury and check your natural gas, water, and electrical connections.

But if you have an emergency, don’t expect personnel to come immediately. Emergency officials say you may be on your own for up to a week after a quake.

This Riverside County Emergency Operations Center in Indio has facilities allowing local government, police, and law enforcement agencies to all communicate and organize a disaster response.

But with a ratio of one emergency responder to every thousand people, coordinators say their first priority will be to assess the damage and send help where it’s needed most. The rest of us will have to wait.

“Initially, they will probably expect not to have anyone. That’s why it’s important to take first aid, CPR classes so you can help your own family members.”