Ignorance is Not Bliss; Ignoring San Andreas Fault Has Consequences

I moved to California more than 25 years ago, from good 'ol Iowa. In my youth I survived two tornados. Surviving a is simple ... get as far underground as you can and wait. A few months after moving to San Diego, I experienced my first

I was returning from my honeymoon with my wife in October 1987 and we stayed overnight at her mother's home in Brea. The Whittier earthquake hit. It was a 5.9 magnitude. I woke up to the sound that was a cross between the sound of a freight train and rocks grinding. Everything in our room was falling to the floor and the lights were swinging. As any good Iowan would try to do ... I headed to the basement ... only to find that there aren't any basements here in California.

As damaging as the Whittier earthquake was, people were still mobile. Food, water, and emergency supplies were readily available for the people. First responders were quick to arrive on the scene. And life just kept on.

The same thing could be said of the Northridge earthquake. Thousands were temporarily homeless, and 9,000 homes were without electricity for days. About 12,500 structures were moderately to severely damaged. Roadways were destroyed. But it was only a hiccup in our daily routines.

As Californians we are resilient. We live in . We not only experience earthquakes, we expect them. That expectation, however, is our biggest liability when it comes to the San Andreas Fault. The best way that Californians deal with earthquakes is to live in denial. And that denial leads us to do no pre-planning or preparation. We will just deal with it when it comes, right? That may work for other earthquakes, but not the San Andreas.

The southern tip of the San Andreas has not ruptured in over 320 years. It has the highest probability of being the next big earthquake in California, according to the California Emergency Management Agency. Its threat has been upgraded from a potential 7.8 to an 8.1 potentially over a 340 mile stretch and will shake for minutes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones).

This is no average California earthquake. As it ruptures it will move the upper surface 30 feet in opposite directions. Roads will be severed and some destroyed from landslides leaving us cut off from the rest of the country. About 10,000 aftershocks are predicted in the first few months after the earthquake happens. Communications will be down. The three water lines that allow us to import 90 percent of our water go directly across the San Andreas, along with the natural gas pipelines. It is projected that over 5,000 people will die, over 50,000 will be seriously injured, hundreds of thousands will be homeless. And over 20 million people will be impacted by the aftermath. Total economic impact will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

This is NOT a "typical" California earthquake. This is the mother of all earthquakes.

After the shaking we will be cut off from the lifelines that we take advantage of every day. We will be without clean drinking water for weeks, but more like six months or longer. The will be down, the freeways will not be operable. The harbors will be shut down, airports destroyed. We will be cut off from our food sources. The power grids are projected to be down for months. In some areas it could be 12 months or longer before normal power is restored. And as Orange County and San Diego had a wake up call last fall with the , we were highly inconvenienced for 12-18 hours. for weeks if not months! Just what will you do to heat water, bath, , use for lighting, what will you eat and most important - what will you drink?

The biggest part of this crisis is that the people of We continue to live in denial (it won't happen in my lifetime, or worse yet - it won't be that bad). We live in an entitlement society - we believe the government has to and will take care of us. People really live in ignorance if they believe that there is a government agency that exists that is going to come in and provide food, and water for the 20 million people that will need it. Just look at Hurricane Katrina and what took place and then multiply a San Andreas disaster by 4 to 5 times. That is more of a picture of reality.

Survival from the San Andreas relies on self-sufficiency and some sort of planning. I suggest two things: First, understand what the San Andreas earthquake will do and second, put together a plan that take care of your family after. 

In conjunction with Be Ready Inc., in Oceanside (a disaster preparedness company that has been around for over 20 years), and the local scientists, seismologists, California Emergency Management Agency, California Earthquake Authority, and the Red Cross, I have developed a seminar that discusses what can be expected from a large earthquake and what you have to do to prepare. These seminars are free to the public. We can come to your school, church, business, association, or and provide this seminar for you. We are also finishing an educational website learntobeready.com that will provide disaster plans, training videos, free webinars, and downloadable forms that you can use.

I will also be posting blogs over the next few months giving you ideas and tips on how best to prepare for a San Andreas earthquake or other large-scale disaster. You can email me with your questions at chris@bereadyinc.com and I may use your emails in my upcoming posts.

WHEN it happens, you will either feel secure knowing that you are ready, or you will live in fear of the outcome wishing that you had given head to the warnings.