Prepared in an Earthquake

In the last 90 days we have seen amazing footage from several earthquakes around the world. My personal favorite is the woman running from a grocery store carrying a very large package of toilet paper. The video was shown hundreds of times in every looting story in the media (I think she was the only one looting...), but it never lost poignancy. No matter the emergency, there are basic needs we will all continue to have. We need to be prepared.

Michigan is not known for it's earthquakes, but I don't think that negates our need for preparation. We may not be famous for them, be we've had a few memorables. From USGS...

The earthquake of August 9, 1947, damaged chimneys and cracked plaster over a large area of south-central Michigan and affected a total area of about 50,000 square miles, including points north to Muskegon and Saginaw and parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The cities of Athens, Bronson, Coldwater, Colon, Matteson Lake, Sherwood, and Union City in the south-central part of the State all experienced intensity VI effects. Reports of damage to chimneys and some instances of cracked or fallen plaster, broken windows, and merchandise thrown from store shelves were common over the epicentral area.

The last line is the part that got my attention...merchandise thrown from store shelves. We have shelves in our home that hold Mason jars of food. Every time I walk by them I am careful not to knock something off. Wonder what might happen during an earthquake? More common than the epicenter occurring in Michigan is feeling the tremors from a quake that occurs on the New Madrid fault in Missouri. That has happened several times in recent history.

One of our favorite preparedness blogs has an extensive post on preparing your family for an earthquake. The Prepared LDS Family discusses everything from those shelves to teaching your family members what to do in an earthquake. Read this. It also explains that the email forward you received on the "triangle of life" is WRONG and a FRAUD. Since we might not spend every day of our lives in an earthquake-free zone, it's a worth our time.

-Anne Burns