Shake It!

            This past Tuesday marked a planned, statewide earthquake drill called the Great Utah ShakeOut. You may have participated in an exercise in your community in order to raise awareness about the big earthquake that’s supposed to be hitting Utah on December 21, 2012. Oh, wait. That’s when the aliens invade. Anyway, Utah could be host to a doozy of a tremor one of these days, and it’s always best to have some sort of plan just in case it happens anytime during your life.
            I always like to think that the “Big One” will hit right after I reach the peak of Mount Olympus. I’ll be surveying the valleys below, when BAM!, everything starts to violently shake. The earth will open up between the base of the mountains and the foothills. Land, roads, homes, and ants will start pouring into the void. And then I’ll watch as the foothills quickly disappear into the gaping abyss, and then the mountainside. By the time the earth begins to erode beneath my feet, though, the hole in the valley floor will have been filled to capacity and I will be triumphantly poised on top of a 50-foot pile of rocks that minutes before stood just over 9,000 feet.
            Sure, we’d all like to choose where we’re going to be when an earthquake hits, but earthquakes are sneaky things and no one gets to choose their location during such a disaster. The only thing we can choose is to be somewhat ready with emergency plans. First aid kits are always great to have, as well as spare food in your car and home.

And don’t forget the meeting place. Choose an area that is well away from any potential dangers, like power lines or large buildings. Of course, if there is a chasm between you and your meeting place, chances are you’re going to have to find some other way of notifying your friends or family that you made it. But knowing that others will be trying to reach the same place as you can give you hope. And hope goes a long way in a situation involving a natural disaster.

The worst-case scenario for an earthquake is death, but the step up from that is finding yourself in a building that could collapse on top of you at any moment. Earthquakes can be so sudden and violent that it is impossible to reach the relative safety outside the building. I remember learning in school earthquake drills that you should find shelter under a table or desk or doorway. Turns out that tables or desks are still a good option, but a doorway leaves you very open to falling objects. When an earthquake happens, you should drop to the ground or floor, and then crawl to the nearest safe place. Sometimes the corner of a room is the safest place. When ceilings cave in, you’ve got a better chance in a corner of not being crushed.

Let’s all hope that we are at the top of whatever mountain we’re climbing when an earthquake hits, but if not, let’s have a plan in the case that the earthquake takes us by surprise (which it most definitely will). I’d wish you “Good luck,” but it doesn’t quite feel right for a natural disaster, so I’ll simply say, “Be prepared!”