Imagine you're eating dinner with your family and the table and chairs start shaking. The suspended dining room light is swaying. You're used to the occasion minor tremor, but this time the tremor rapidly intensifies to hard shaking and lasts for over 3 minutes.
That's what happened to me at age 12 when we were living in Chile. An 8.0 magnitude quake struck off the coast 65 miles away. Where we lived it felt like a mid-to-high 6-magnitude quake.
Now I live in Utah with my own wife and children. We're in the shadow of the Wasatch Fault, a series of fault segments that scientists say can produce earthquakes up to 7.2. Unlike Chile, or any country (or U.S. state) around the Ring of Fire, experiencing even a mild earth tremor is rare in Utah.
As a father with 4 young children, I started researching the threats, risks, and hazards for earthquakes, with particular interest in Utah earthquakes. That research, along with an interest in natural disasters, emergency preparedness, and preparing for disasters eventually led to giving presentations on Utah earthquake risks and preparedness. The research and presentations became the basis for this book.
The first part of the book is what I called Earthquakes 101 in my presentations. Better preparedness comes with understandind what you're preparing for and most people only have a TV/Hollywood understanding of earthquakes. In part 1 you'll learn:
- What earthquakes are--faults, how they're measured, foreshocks, aftershocks, earthquake-related hazards, Ring of Fire
- Earthquake hazards-including aftershocks, seiches, fires, flooding, liquefaction, subsidence, tsunamis, and more.
- Notable earthquakes and unexpected discoveries.
- Research into earthquake predictions.
Every region in the United States has some risk, and (surprising to many) most states also have some earthquake risk. Becoming familiar with the risks and hazards specific to your location helps you become better prepared for disasters. In part 2 we'll review:
- Earthquake risks by region in the United States.
- Top 16 earthquake risk states.
- Top at-risk cities.
- Five potential earthquake scenarios: San Francisco, San Andreas, Cascadia Subduction Zone (off the coast of Oregon and Washington), New Madrid Seismic Zone (U.S. midwest), and Wasatch Fault (the Utah earthquake risk).
The final part covers preparing for disasters, with a focus on earthquake preparedness. Good emergency preparedness is more than just having a disaster preparedness kit, emergency preparedness items or emergency supplies. This section covers:
- Sheltering in place and types of evacuations.
- Home preparedness--including utilities, preparations, securiing the home, special and other preparations, and where to store emergency equipment.
- Get-home preparedness--with emphasis and the get-home/emergency pack you should have with you at work and in your vehicle.
- Ideas for where to get preparedness gear and disaster preparedness supplies.
- Suggestions for emergency plans and drills with the family, including the need for communication and practice.
- Steps to take to increase your preparedness over the next week, month, 90 days and year.
In the appendix you'll find several helpful lists. Instead of having to remember where in the book to find suggested lists, in the appendix you'll find helpful lists with expanded suggestions:
- Basic and expanded items for a Get-Home kit.
- Emergency Preparedness kit with expanded list for the vehicle.
- First Aid kit essentials and additions.
Don't wait for a disaster (or earthquake) to strike. Start your preparedness today with Earthquake! What, Where, and How to Prepare.
