Hallo, perceptive viewers, and welcome to Planet Earth: Our Loving Home. Thus far in 2010 several powerful earthquakes have struck the Earth, with January’s 7.3 magnitude quake in Haiti and February’s 8.8 magnitude temblor in southern Chile causing the most destruction as they were centered in highly populated areas.

Dr. Jim Goltz the Earthquake and Tsunami Program Manager for the Preparedness Division of the California Emergency Management Agency, USA, has been involved in earthquake research, planning, preparedness and mitigation for 35 years.

In this second part of our two-part interview with Dr. Goltz, he offers more sensible advice on earthquake preparedness and survival. When speaking to the public on the subject, he strongly emphasizes that running during an earthquake is unsafe.

Sometimes people feel that it’s best to get away from whatever hazards there might be, but generally, there have been studies done on what people did in earthquakes and most people either take cover, move away from hazards or remain in place.

We had an earthquake up near the town of Eureka in Northern California (USA) in January; I think it was about a week before the Haiti earthquake. But, on surveillance cameras we noticed that a lot of people were running out of stores. One of the areas in which people feel least secure is in a public place. Sometimes it’s open, like a mall or sometimes it’s enclosed. But generally, again, we recommend that people not run.

If you’re in a stadium, remain in place, don’t run for the exits. Those areas where you’re least familiar, that’s the area where it’s most important to remember not to run. Generally, people do pretty well in their own homes, because it’s a familiar place.

To keep telephone communication systems functioning normally after a temblor, experts say not to use them except to report emergencies.

We recommend that people not make phone calls except for emergency calls following an earthquake, because the system does get overloaded; typically you have damage to telecommunications equipment, to cell towers and other things. So, we recommended that people, if at all possible, stay off the telephone. It’s probably a good idea to have someone who is some distance away, a relative, for example, who you contact once and that person will inform your relatives and friends around the country that you’re okay.

If the building one is in becomes damaged by a quake, there are several key points to keep in mind.

Earthquakes, large earthquakes particularly, where there are structural collapses, create a tremendous amount of dust and so you do want to protect your lungs, protect your breathing. I would recommend using masksor a handkerchief or something, to keep the dust out.

If one is trapped after an earthquake, the most important thing to do is stay calm and inform others that you need help.

I think first of all you should verbalize, you should shout, you should indicate that you need help. If you actually can hear people digging, you should knock or use something to make a repetitive noise to let rescuers know that you’re alive, but verbalization is probably the best thing. Typically people find those trapped in debris by hearing their voices, but also rapping on something, a pipe or concrete, something that resonates is also a good policy.

Getting ready ahead of time for a possible earthquake is crucial. What are some steps one should take?

Now as far as preparedness, we recommend that people keep a supply of water. Water is extremely important, food is as well, but one of the things you should understand about food is that typically we have things stored in our refrigerators and very often we lose the electrical utilities after a big earthquake. Everything in your refrigerator is going to have to be eaten pretty quickly, so food is less important than water, you must have water.

There are many systems now to purify water. I think it grew out of the trend of people going hiking and backpacking where water had to be purified, but it can be done by pill. There are types of tablets, there are also water purification systems that can be purchased. But basically, I think the best thing to do is just have tap water, bottled water, that’s probably the best thing, just to store, and typically a couple of gallons a day per person.

We also recommend that people keep additional supplies of medication that they need, that they have a battery operated radio to obtain information after the event, that they have a flashlight with extra batteries, a first aid kit, and also the understanding of how to turn off your utilities if need be, but we recommend that people turn off their gas only if they smell gas. So those are some of the things that people can do.

As far as the house itself is concerned, we recommend that people get positive catch latches for their cupboards in the kitchen, that they secure tall, heavy furniture, refrigerators and book cases and mirrors and other objects that could fall and cause damage, particularly breakage.

When we return, Dr. Goltz will discuss some Internet-based tools that aid emergency responders in assessing how many people may possibly need help in an area after a seismic event. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Planet Earth: Our Loving Home here on Supreme Master Television and our program on earthquake safety featuring Dr Jim Goltz, Earthquake and Tsunami Program Manager for the Preparedness Division of the California Emergency Management Agency, USA.

To help communities affected by a quake as quickly as possible, officials in the US such as Dr. Goltz rely on “ShakeMaps” generated by the United States Geological Survey to predict the extent of the damage.

These are some of the technologies and tools that we have available to us as emergency managers that really give us advanced, very rapid, almost real-time information about what’s happened. And it allows us to mobilize more quickly.

It allows us to mobilize in the most intelligent way, knowing that an earthquake with this kind of shaking, this close to a population center is really going to be a full mobilization of resources. Shake map has really been one of our most important technologies, probably, over the last 20 years in terms of emergency response.

It gives you information about the earthquake itself, in this case an aftershock of the Chile earthquake, but it also gives you a sense of how much exposure there was to various levels of ground shaking. And you can see that this is color coded to correspond to levels of shaking. Up to about level six, there’s really not too much danger, but when we get to intensity seven, eight, nine, 10, you’re getting into zones where clearly there’s a danger to people.

This particular aftershock, it was 5.7. So you can see that there’s no population exposure to severe shaking. Some exposure, about 5,000 people, to very strong shaking, but when we had the magnitude seven in Haiti, the magnitude 8.8 in Chile, you had very large segments of the population exposed to these levels of shaking.

Dr. Goltz now gives a brief demonstration of PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response), another Internet-based tool used by the United States Geological Survey to estimate the number of people affected by a quake. He uses the February 2010 Chilean earthquake as an example.

The largest earthquake ever recorded by modern instruments was in Chile in May of 1960, a 9.5. Now this was also a very big earthquake, and you can see, over three and a half million people were exposed to shaking intensity eight.

There was damage in Santiago, which is the largest city that was involved in the earthquake, but it was over 200 miles from the epicenter. So to some extent, it probably wasn’t exposed to the highest intensities, but nevertheless, there was damage. But these coastal towns along here were not only hit by the earthquake, but they also had a local tsunami here that also caused fatalities. This is one way that we find out fairly quickly that we’ve got a serious problem.

Those living in coastal areas are at greatest risk of being affected by an earthquake-induced tsunami. One should always listen to announcements by local authorities to learn if evacuation is required.

Sometimes an underwater landslide can trigger a tsunami, but it would tend to be very localized. Tsunamis are generated typically by very large earthquakes in subduction zones, along the plate boundaries. This was the case with the earthquake in Chile. And this was the case with the Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Very large earthquakes in Chile, magnitude 8.8, in Sumatra, the earthquake was between a 9 and a 9.3. So these earthquakes generate tsunamis, and basically what you have is a column of water that goes all the way from the top to the bottom of the ocean, and moves across the ocean very, very quickly, about the speed that a jet airliner flies.

So let me use the example of the Chile earthquake, and the tsunami that it generated. The earthquake in Chile happened about 3:30 in the morning local time, but about 10:30 our time, 10:30 in the evening on Friday night. And we knew within about two hours that it had generated a tsunami.

If the earthquake is centered nearby and one is on the beach, quick action may be needed.

If they feel an earthquake that lasts more than 20 seconds and if it’s strong enough to knock them off their feet and they are on the beach, they need to move inland right away.

Human beings are not the only ones affected by quakes. Our animal companions are also impacted.

Sometimes pets will perceive a p-wave, (pressure wave), which is sort of the sound wave before the stronger, shear waves arrive. Sometimes it’s hard to find your pets after an earthquake, but there are facilities that will take pets.

If you have to evacuate your home and the shelter where you go or the friend’s house or the relative’s house or the neighbor’s house can’t accommodate your pet, there are places that will take pets of various kinds, including large animals like horses and other large animals.

We sincerely thank Dr. Jim Goltz for his sound advice on what to do in case of an earthquake or tsunami, and for showing us some of the tools that emergency responders rely on to aid victims. May we all make earthquake preparedness a priority to ensure the safety of ourselves and others.

For more details on earthquake preparedness, please visit:
California Emergency Management Agency CMS.CalEMA.ca.gov
Southern California Earthquake Center www.DropCoverHoldon.org
For access to PAGER, ShakeMaps, and continually updated details on earthquakes around the world please visit: United States Geological Survey’s Earthquake Hazards Program Earthquake.USGS.gov

Thank you for your kind company on today’s edition of Planet Earth: Our Loving Home. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News. May we all soon adopt compassionate lifestyles so that our Earth becomes more stable and calm.