Drop, cover and hold on

The season’s first major Pacific storm this week is a reminder
of how quickly Nature can turn on us. Sometimes we get gifts of
replenishing rainfall. Other times Nature overdoes it and our
hillsides erode and our streams and rivers overflow. We need the
water but we wish the timing were better for our final vineyard and
orchard harvests. In case we were napping, Nature now has regained
our full attention.
And, it’s not just the skies that bear watching. Nature’s most
powerful forces can even move the earth beneath our feet as it did
20 years ago during this week on Oct. 17, 1989.
While winegrape growers will be preoccupied with saving what
crops they can or planning for a delayed harvest, many others of us
will be joining the “Great California Shakeout,” a statewide
earthquake awareness drill.
Today (Thursday, Oct. 15) at 10:15 a.m. millions of California
school children, government officials and others will participate
in the largest earthquake drill ever held. Participants will “Drop,
Cover and Hold On.”
Everyone under the age of 21 will not remember the magnitude 6.9
Loma Prieta earthquake that killed 63 people in the San Francisco
Bay Area and caused $6 billion in damages, including the collapse
of a section of the Bay Bridge that still has not been replaced.
The archived film footage from that day lacks any real impact
unless you lived through it and can recall where you were that
exact moment that the earth moved and everything shook and
swayed.
We can see a mighty Pacific storm coming our way and make plans
to deal with power outages, road washouts or harvest emergencies.
But an earthquake can happen at anytime with no warning. The only
way to be prepared is with routine practice and fully-stocked
emergency supply kits.
At home, school, work or in our neighborhoods, the same
emergency preparations made for a possible earthquake will be the
same plans needed to survive a winter flood, long-term power outage
or related natural disaster.
Are we better prepared for an earthquake today than we were in
1989? If the earth shakes again for 15 seconds over hundreds of
miles of submerged fault lines that stretch from Santa Cruz to the
North Bay will we remember to “drop, cover and hold on?”
Since the Loma Prieta quake thousands of public structures have
been reinforced — but not all of them. Many of our regional
hospitals have not been retrofitted. Very few of our private homes
have been strapped to their foundations or inspected. Some
roadways, overcrossings and bridges remain on a deferred
maintenance list, waiting for public funds.
Sonoma County residents — especially lower river communities —
have learned to live with our flood-prone Russian River. Emergency
Preparedness crews and volunteers have been practicing flood
evacuation drills. Homes and all buildings have been elevated above
the 100-year flood plain.
The trouble with earthquakes — besides a lack of a warning — is
no structure is ever 100 percent safe or earthquake proof.
Earthquake scientists predict a major quake will hit the Bay
Area in the next 30 years. Sonoma County’s Rodger’s Creek fault is
considered one of the most vulnerable in the Bay Area along with
the East Bay’s Hayward Fault.
In the event of an earthquake, travel and communications will be
disrupted, buildings will collapse, people will panic and fires and
other catastrophes may be triggered.
As we watch the mid-October rainstorm pass, we should join the
Great California Shakeout drill and organize and refresh our home
and business emergency supply kits.
Families and neighborhoods should meet and make emergency
response and evacuation plans. Organize rendezvous locations and
communication plans. Remember, cell phones, land lines and most
forms of mass communication will be unavailable at the height of
any widespread emergency.
— Rollie Atkinson