Debra Baer
November 10, 2008
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Drop, cover, and hold on: by the end of this week, those words may stick in everyone's minds. KPCC's Debra Baer says the Southland is getting ready to stage the biggest earthquake preparedness exercise in U.S. history.
["This is an earthquake drill, right now; drop, cover, and hold on."]
Debra Baer: The Great Southern California Shakeout is months in the making. Spearheaded by the U.S. Geological Survey, it's intended to help emergency responders and policy makers improve disaster relief plans for the "big one" – based on fresh scientific research about what a real, massive earthquake would produce.
Here's the scenario: at 10 o'clock Wednesday morning a magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes on the San Andreas Fault. Five-thousand times more powerful than our last quake in July.
["Strong shaking might not end for you until a minute and a-half after you first felt the earthquake. Look around and imagine, what would fall on you or others?"]
Baer: Two-thousand people are dead, 50,000 are injured, and damage estimates range upwards of $200 billion. How will we respond? That's what experts here and from around the world hope to learn from the drills, workshops, and exercises across the region.
A three-day international earthquake conference opens in L.A. to coincide with the Shakeout event. For more information on what your city's doing, go online to
Shakeout.org.
