Great Southern California ShakeOut!

I was recently contacted by a representative of the Great Southern California ShakeOut campaign in an effort to inform the readers of Raising California of the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history. This drill will take place on November 13th, 2008...in TWO days!

To get you started and ready for the ShakeOut on 11/13...

View a real-time simulation of a 7.8 magnitude quake in Southern Calilfornia HERE.

You should also know the following information regarding the ShakeOut:

At 10:00am on November 13, millions of Californians will “drop, cover and hold on” at the same exact time – in schools, businesses, community centers, etc.

It’s all part of making sure Southern Californians are prepared when for disasters and know exactly what to do when the “Big One” hits.

Already 4 Million teachers, families, parents, business owners – you name it – have signed up. Over 5 million are expected to sign up. If you would like to sign up; go HERE.

Go HERE for an interactive site that provides clear and simple instructions for what to do during an earthquake.

Come back to Raising California on 11/13 to watch a webcam demonstration of how L.A. Mama, Tennessee and California participate in the Great Southern California Shakeout!

Earthquakes. They're what's for lunch.

I was just going about my business, making a salad (organic romaine lettuce, condo grown organic tomatoes, organic red onions from YUMMY.COM and organic Avocados...with low fat Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing)...I had just told Tennessee to take his library books upstairs. California was climbing up the outside of the banister/railing(as usual)...see pic below:



Tennessee reached the landing at the top of the staircase and dropped his load of books then suddenly the condo started shaking...

I said "Did you do that?" then with more intensity, "Are you doing that???"

He said "What? NO! That isn't because of my books."

I thought the shaking had stopped and it was just construction or something but then it started again. It kept going and going and going. The staircase was shaking and rattling. I could hear metal and parts of the condo rattling. I quickly noticed that the staircase was only anchored in two places and envisioned the heavy glass block wall crumbling down and said "It's an earthquake." with unmistakable urgency. I told Tennessee to get down right now...grabbed California off the ledge and waited for the shaking to stop.

I looked at the clock. It was 11:42am. The shaking lasted for about 15 - 20 seconds. Maybe more. We immediately looked on the USGS Earthquake website and found out that we had just experienced a 5.8 magnitude earthquake (it was later downgraded to a 5.4). We noticed the chandelier swaying again at 11:48. We later found out that was an aftershock measuring at 3.8.

We had at least 30 aftershocks...but we only felt two.

To be honest, I wasn't that surprised. Sure it caught me off guard and I did freak out a little, but I have been expecting this for a while. After all, we live in EARTHQUAKE COUNTRY and WE PREPARE for things like this; right?

The cell phones weren't working but the landlines were.

Later in the day, we had a blackout...we still haven't discovered what caused this as it happened hours after the earthquake.

Click HERE for disaster preparedness information (if you didn't click on WE PREPARE above).

Tell us your earthquake story. What are you going to do to prepare for the next one?

Earthquakes R Us

Come on down and get yourself an earthquake; we have plenty here at Earthquakes R Us because this is earthquake country! We have many different faults to choose from just in the Los Angeles area alone. Here is a diagram of our faults. Each line that you see is a fault, we have them in many different colors :)
According to the Southern California Earthquake Data Center, "since these maps show only surface traces of faults, some potentially damaging faults -- namely, blind thrust faults, like the one which caused the Northridge earthquake of 1994 -- are not shown". Wow, thanks for that!

Californians are quite used to earthquakes. We are so used to them that we are totally unprepared for the next "BIG ONE"...which has been predicted to happen any day now. Apparently, it has been 300 years since an 8+ richter scale rumbler, so the earth under us is wound up extra tight and ready to unleash all of the pressure that has built up over the centuries. One geologist compared it to being 10 months pregnant! So what should we all do when the big one comes? The best thing to do in an earthquake is to drop, cover and hold on to something immediately. Get under a table or anything sturdy, cover your head and face and HOLD ON!

Go to 72Hours.org to find out how to be prepared for an earthquake(and various other disasters). The site has an ineractive platform that walks you through emergency situations step by step so that you can feel confidently prepared for anything this crazy world has to sling your way.