shake rattle and roll
Thursday at 10am is the Great Southern California Shake Out. Its billed as the largest disaster drill in history - or something like that. I'm a little curious how much people will really participate - and how. Since I work from home and not in an office, its hard to know. But at 10am, everyone is supposed to practice 'drop, cover, and hold on' as if a 7.8 earthquake is hitting the area. Police and emergency services will be doing drills, Metro will be running the trains on a reduced schedule as if an earthquake had occurred... I suppose the main point is awareness, whether you participate or not. I'll admit that I didn't know the 'drop, cover, hold on' thing - we were taught the 'triangle of life' in Police Academy, but according to the ShakeOut website, the triangle of life had proven not to be a safe theory. So, if you find yourself in an earthquake, drop to the ground (if you aren't already thrown to it), cover yourself under a piece of furniture if possible, and shield your head with your arms or pillow if you can, and hold onto any nearby piece of furniture until the shaking stops. So if you wanna have some fun at 10am, yell "earthquake" and jump under your desk. After all, you can just say youre doing your part by participating in a community event. And we should all probably update or restock or create our earthquake kits. Think Katrina - and have enough food and water to survive for a week without electricity or phones. They recommend keeping your kits in backpacks - one in your home, car, and at work. Things to have in it include: medications, first aid kits, dust masks, water, whistles, flashlights, high calorie snacks, toiletries, etc. I too am guilty of not keeping up with my kits. Lots more info is in the links below, as well as some pretty creepy movies of what a shaking Los Angeles would look like in a 7.8 earthquake. After watching a couple of those, you might want to go back to the puppycam just to feel better.
What to include in your disaster kit