[UPDATE] Are You Ready?: A Look at the ShakeOut Earthquake Drill Which Happens Thursday 10/17 at 10:17 a.m.

The annual California Shakeout gives communities and individuals the opportunity to plan and prepare for an earthquake. The next one is coming this Thursday, October 17th at 10:17 a.m. It’s falling just a week after PG&E’s wildfire prevention efforts that caused power to be shut off to almost all of Northern California. That power shutoff gave the entire region an opportunity to look at their own readiness for an extended disaster.

Patte Rae of the Southern Humboldt Emergency Preparedness Team (SHEPT) said, “Now we have this planned drill a week later giving us an opportunity to focus on what more is needed.”

Terri Klemetson of the Redwood Rural Health Center is coordinating a multi-agency Shakeout scenario and response. In Southern Humboldt, Redwoods Rural is coordinating its earthquake drill with SHEPT, SHARC (Southern Humboldt Amateur Radio Club), Jerold Phelps Hospital and the Redway Community Service District (RCSD).

Klemetson explained that the clinic will use the Shakeout as an earthquake drill within the clinic and in coordination with other community assets. Clinic staff will make a HAM radio call to the hospital and to the Emergency Preparedness Team’s Base Command to, as Terri said, “Test their crosstown communication ability.” Then the clinic will call RCSD to report a broken water main as staff practices what to do if the clinic’s water supply were ever to be disrupted.

The Great California Shakeout gives everyone the opportunity to be better prepared for what might happen during and after a Cascadia level earthquake event. Klemetson emphasized that Humboldt County sits at the tectonic Triple Junction and is deemed the place most likely, in the continental United States, to have a serious earthquake.

She says it is important to prepare your home and your family for the likelihood you will experience an earthquake. And businesses and public service organizations also need to have plans in place and practice those plans. Klemetson said, “It is impossible to know where we will be when an earthquake hits.”

At Redwood Rural, the staff will be practicing the Earthquake section of the clinic’s Emergency Operations Plan, which she described as “a huge manual” that contains the clinic’s plans for a wide variety of potential emergency situations. Patients who have appointments Thursday in the 10:00 a.m. hour can expect to hear staff practicing on the loudspeaker giving directions for everyone to follow.

Terri said that while water will actually remain on at the clinic on Thursday, the clinic staff will be practicing a scenario in which an earthquake has severed their water service. Staff will call RCSD, whose staff will drop what they are doing to respond; clinic staff will find and retrieve its stored water supply and have an opportunity to make mental preparation for a time when the water service is actually disrupted for an extended period.

The Shakeout is designed to encourage everyone to look at their homes in terms of what needs to be bolted down to prevent bodily injury in the event of a major trembler; at our roads and driveways for the potential of them to become unusable, to ask ourselves what we will do if we cannot access supplies or medical service; and to assess what emergency supplies may be needed to survive until trees are cut or slides are cleared. Klemetson pointed out that with one day of power outage, local fuel supplies began to run out at the two stations that could remain open. She said, “It is important to be prepared for WAY MORE than one day!”

It is also important for families to help children and teens be prepared. For the earthquake drill, parents can teach kids to Drop, Cover and Hold on while the shaking happens. And, to plan what to do at home as well as when families are not in the same place when an earthquake occurs. Planning may seem scary at first, but ultimately it will help kids have an overall sense of mental preparation so they feel they have the tools and knowledge they need in an actual natural disaster.

At home, everyone should know to drop, cover and hold-on during the earthquake itself, know when it is time to come out from under cover, and know the best possible escape routes from different parts of the home, Kids should understand not to touch downed power lines and how to avoid other potential dangers that might develop. Parents are encouraged to give kids a list of people they can call if they cannot reach their parents. Parents are also encouraged to have a few trusted adults prepared with the necessary clearance to pick their kids up from school.

One thing Redwoods Rural took note of during last week’s power outage was that school closed and parents had unexpected childcare needs. Klemetson said, “Some kids just came to work with their parents and hung out in the break room, which was fine, but that wasn’t the most fun for the kids.” This is something families and businesses can begin to consider as part of necessary needs after an earthquake.

All year round, the Southern Humboldt Emergency Preparation Team (SHEPT) continually plans for emergency needs. Klemetson said most fire departments have already mapped  the water sources and are now beginning to map the neighborhoods so they know where vulnerable people live so they can be checked in on. Patte Rae encourages everyone in the region to be aware of their neighbors and to be sure everyone is ok and has what they need in the hours after a major event.

Klemetson credited Shelter Cove Fire District for its leadership in the area of emergency planning and said more local communities have become “ motivated” to bring their own district readiness to the next level as well.

Patte Rae coordinates SHEPT and she said for the Shakeout they will be focused on the ham radio response. Southern Humboldt Area Radio Club, SHARC, hopes “to have as many HAMS call in as we can. It is a good test for radios, to make sure they are working correctly so our guys can fix any problems. Jack Foster, Todd Barton and Cliff Banfill are our ‘go to team.’ They help us keep [SHEPT] radios on track as well as the repeaters that are needed to transmit to the Emergency Operations Center in Eureka if an event occurs.”

Rae says there are transmitters and repeaters throughout the region to make radio communication effective in our mountainous terrain. But even with that, antennas have to be strategically placed. Rae said she had Foster and Barton out to her house last week to install an improved antenna so she no longer has to drive a mile up the hill for her HAM radio to work. She said one of the benefits of drills is to get motivated and have a deadline to make these needed preparations and upgrades.

Two useful websites for planning are the www.shakeout.org site for the Shakeout drill itself, and the www.ready.gov website where you can find general emergency preparedness planning guides. And if you want to take it to the next level, you can become trained through CERT which stands for Community Emergency Response Team. You can reach certified instructors in both Southern and northern Humboldt through the website humboldtcert.com or just email [email protected]

UPDATE: According to the Humboldt County OES, “The Humboldt Alert test scheduled for 10:17 this morning has been canceled due to the unscheduled power outage in southern Humboldt. Drills and notification tests are always subject to cancellation if the message or activity may be confusing during a real event.”