Earthquake Awareness

As many of you know, and some felt, we experienced an earthquake here recently. I don't like earthquakes.

At dinner earlier this week, my friends and I were discussing the earthquake and earthquake safety. I was BLOWN AWAY when friends told me about the "triangle of life" and how the "duck and cover" and "get in a doorway" that we were taught was obsolete.

Today I got a fwd email from a friend in Fresno on that exact topic. Unless there is a snopes link in the email that I can follow, I usually go check it out myself. For those of you who don't know, snopes.com can help you check things you're told to see if they're urban legends or true--and snopes offers proof of their claims.

When I checked out the "triangle of life" on snopes, I found that some points are true, but many are disputed or downright false. You can link to FEMA for earthquake safety information. You can link to the Red Cross for earthquake safety information. You can link to a rejoinder to Doug Copp, the "author" of the "triangle of life" theory. Do some research and get informed, and THEN make a plan specific to your location--home, work, school, etc.

Hopefully we WON'T experience the devestation that other places in the world have when we have our earthquakes. It scares the heck out of me when I see that destruction. I'm grateful that our building codes help protect us from earthquakes, to an extent. Now we need to make our own plans that are dependant on our own homes. It's not a bad idea to adopt the boy scout attitude of "BE PREPARED."