Preparing for Disaster: The Script

ELFIE ELBOGEN-BEER
It was scary for me, the wind was – very strong winds. We knew that it was going to be pretty bad. I
was the most nervous, because I was just afraid of how high the water would come towards us.
LINDSAY EGGETT
The fire was coming on so fast. From where we were you could see the flames. The whole
neighborhood was covered in smoke, so you couldn’t see anything. And then the smoke would clear
and you could see the flames again
SUSANNA LALLEMANT
When the earthquake hit, obviously, we didn’t know what was going on. It was just this incredible
roaring noise.
JEFF GRAVIET, Emergency Services Director, Salt Lake County
We don’t know when, how or if it’s going to happen, so the question becomes, how do I get ready for
any one of those events.
TERESA ZUNDEL, Director of Communications, American Red Cross, Utah Region
Major earthquakes, hurricane Sandy, bridges are out, power lines are down, people can’t get where they
need to go. Assume that will happen. Prepare for it.
ANNOUNCER
Funding for Preparing for Disaster: Starting Now comes from a major grant from Daily Bread and
Foodinsurance.com, providing emergency food and supplies to families, businesses, and individuals
nationwide.
NARRATOR
In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy migrated north off the Atlantic Coast. It met up with a complex
low-pressure system, then moved west into New Jersey. In the small coastal town of Spring Lake,
winds over 90 miles per hour ravaged trees and power lines. Breakers pummeled the town’s boardwalk.
ENRIQUE BEER
We got warnings way ahead of the storm; we knew how big it was going to be. I think the radius of the
storm was about 800 miles, so it was going to affect a lot of people. And even if you were not a direct
hit, it was going to affect you.
ELFIE ELBOGEN-BEER
You could see the waves, you could see the water coming closer. It was very foamy, so you could see
the white foam in the dark. That’s how we were kind of watching what was going on.
ENRIQUE BEER
Walking around the house looking for breaking glass or something, all night while the storm was going
through. I tried to keep my kids calm and make sure that they feel safe in the house.
NARRATOR
Hurricane Sandy struck a vast, densely populated area across the Eastern United States. Its estimated
cost is climbing above $50 billion dollars.
TINA SPENCER, Volunteer, American Red Cross
We were the first people that a lot of these clients had seen. And they were devastated. I mean, I saw
homes ripped apart, boats in a house, roofs on cars, and the people are just so distraught. They don’t
know what to do next.
ENRIQUE BEER
All the boards from the boardwalk and all the benches that were there. Garbage cans made of concrete
ended up the street. And it was pretty, pretty big devastation by the storm.
NARRATOR
Disasters disrupt hundreds of thousands of lives every year. Floods, fires, earthquakes, tornados and
hurricanes have lasting effects, both to people and property. And these disasters can happen anywhere
— from third world countries with weak infrastructure…to our nation’s financial headquarters... to our
own neighborhoods.
Weather data and economic studies are combining to show an increasing trend in extreme weather
events and related costs of recovery over the past 30 years.
LOGAN SISAM, Utah Region Emergency Services Director, American Red Cross
You always hear of people on the news saying, gosh, you always hear about it happening to somebody
else. You watch the news and it happens to someone else. Well, today it happened to me. And that’s
what we need to prepare for.
NARRATOR
In the Intermountain West, a geological feature known as the Wasatch Fault spans from Southern Idaho
to Central Utah. Roughly 80 percent of Utah's population lives along the fault. For these residents, one
primary threat looms.
JEFF GRAVIET
Our biggest threat is that of a large earthquake which we’ll get no notice for. It’ll just happen.
KATHERINE WHIDDEN, Research Seismologist, University of Utah
Being a seismologist, I probably lose more sleep over the earthquake threat than most people.
JEFF GRAVIET
We don’t know how bad it’s going to be, we’ve got a lot of models to suggest that a major earthquake
here in the Salt Lake Valley is going to be devastating, not only to the infrastructure, but to impacted
lives to evacuations, to not enough sheltering capabilities. So we’ve got a lot of modeling to suggest
that that’s a very serious situation, and could impact thousands of people.
KRISTINE PANKOW, Associate Director, University Of Utah Seismograph Stations
About every 500 years there’s a surface-rupturing earthquake along the Wasatch Fault, and I clarify that
because those are the only ones we can see in the paleo-seismic records. So that means it had to be a
magnitude probably larger than 6.5, 6.7 or larger event to actually break the surface.
So not only have we had earthquakes in the past, we actually have sensors along the fault; they’re
called GPS, so Global Positioning Sensors, that actually measure relative positions. And we know that
there is strain that is building across the Wasatch Fault, and we know that with strain you’re going to
get an earthquake.
KATHERINE WHIDDEN
There are two levels of earthquake threat that we worry about here in Utah. The first is a magnitude 7
on a large fault such as the Wasatch fault. And another thing that we worry about is a smaller
earthquake of a magnitude 5.5 to 6.5, and that could happen anywhere in Utah, not necessarily on a
fault that we know about. And if those happen under a populated area, it could be very damaging.
Damage to buildings, damage to infrastructure, damage to roads, power lines would probably be down,
communications could be down.
We could have liquefaction. Liquefaction is where sediments that are saturated with water, when they
shake, they behave like liquids, and this is really bad for buildings that are on top of these sediments.
KRISTINE PANKOW
Utilities are going to fail, water, primarily, a lot of our water systems come right across the fault, so you
can expect to be without water for at least 72 hours, and actually to rebuild that infrastructure it’s going
to take several weeks. Phone systems are going to go down.
AMY CORROON
At some time, at some point, we’re going to have an earthquake. And even if it’s not an earthquake,
maybe a fire, or even if the power goes out.
NARRATOR
Across the world, in the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, nearly 20,000 earthquakes are recorded every
year. This geologically active area includes New Zealand. In the country’s third largest city of
Christchurch, which weathered a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in 2010, Susanna Lallemant and her
daughter Megane learned first hand to plan on self-sufficiency.
SUSANNA LALLEMANT
Do not expect anybody. Nobody can come. They can’t, it’s not possible. Plan to not have your cell
phone for three days. You need to plan that now – what are your kids going to do? We’ve trained them
their whole lives – it could take us three days to get to you from where we work. You know, it’s a ten
minute car drive, but when you’re having to walk over the rubble and through the holes?
NARRATOR
When a disaster strikes, it is unlikely that emergency responders will be able to immediately address
everyone’s needs. It’s up to you and your family members to be ready.
JEFF GRAVIET
So in the United States, the way we respond to crisis is that every disaster is local, and that local piece
means right down to the individual, you have a responsibility as an individual to be able to deal with
crisis and emergency. You need to put those pieces together.
WADE WATKINS, Salt Lake County Deputy Emergency Manager
The mindset of the emergency services within this valley is obviously to protect life, number one. Now
how we go about doing that in a mass casualty incident or a large disaster, is going to be looking to do
the greatest good as soon as possible and work back from there.
MATT TAYLOR, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Salt Lake City Fire Department
Also, in a really large disaster, the fire department is going to be completely overwhelmed; they’re not
going to be able to get to you for a long time. So you may be on your own for quite a while. If you
haven’t planned for that and you’re not prepared for that, then that’s just going to compound your
disaster.
JEFF GRAVIET
If we’ve got 200 children trapped in an elementary and a house on fire, priority is going to be the 200
children trapped in the elementary.
LENORE COREY, Prevention Specialist, Sandy City Fire Department
The fact that first responders are not going to be there for awhile, the average citizen needs to know
what to do in that type of situation.
WADE WATKINS
We will get to you; rest assured, we will get to you and we’re doing everything within our power to get
to you, but it’s going to take some time.
NARRATOR
It can feel overwhelming —even gloomy— to prepare for something that could truly be a life-or–death
situation. But when you take the first step, you’ll feel empowered and in control.
MARGARET OLER, Spokesperson, Rocky Mountain Power
The thing about preparing for an emergency is that my emergency might happen right here within my
own home. It might happen with the circumstances of just me and my family or it might affect our
neighborhood. Whatever kind of an emergency might occur, having things thought through and
prepared for in advance when conditions are their best makes it so that I get through whatever
emergency there is easier.
JEFF GRAVIET
If you practice stuff, if you’ve done it before, if you’ve seen it before, the next time’s a lot easier. It’s
that first time that’s always very challenging.
KRISTINE PANKOW
When you’re prepared for something, you’re going to lessen the overall chaos, trauma.
LENORE COREY
But the key to all of this is not getting so overwhelmed that you don’t do anything. You just have to
start. Start, and buy that first piece of, item of food or water, or whatever, and just slowly go from there.
NARRATOR
In a major disaster, it could be several days before vital services are restored. The first 72 hours
following a catastrophic event make the most difference in our safety and survival. Basic services such
as electricity, gas, water and telephones may be cut off for a few days, a week, or longer.
JEFF GRAVIET
Emergency responders in the community, government, is working off the scenario that they’ve got
three days before they need to start getting supplies in to resupply you from that first 72 hours. So it’s
giving us that block of time to be able to take care of the life safety issues, open up routes and get
systems up, so that then we can start resupplying the community with those basic staples of food, water.
NARRATOR
Starting now to gear up for those first few critical days will make a difference in your comfort and
safety.
First, understand that some areas are more prone to particular disasters. Consider what can happen
where you live: earthquakes…home fires and wildfires.... floods, severe storms…..power outages.
Your customized 72-hour response plan should begin with a basic template. No matter what the
disaster, take an all-hazards approach to preparing. Then, any extra considerations for specific disasters
can supplement your plan’s basic components.
WADE WATKINS
It’s paramount that we can teach our families to respond in those ways for every different type of
disaster. Obviously we’re going to respond to an earthquake a little bit differently than we are to a
house fire or to a carbon monoxide alarm, or to anything like that.
NARRATOR
The best place to begin is at the kitchen table with your family. Or have a chat on the phone with a
relative. Let neighbors know your plans, and understand theirs.
AMY CORROON
I think it’s so important that every family has an emergency plan in place. The more prepared you are, I
think, the better you feel about it.
LENORE COREY
Even if it sounds scary – we get people all the time saying, I don’t want to scare my kids with that, I
don’t want to make them nervous. Well, if you’re not home, they’re going to be much more frightened
than had you said to them, this is where the flashlight is, this is where our shelter in place bag is. And
so I think we just have to start the conversation and it will go from there, where it needs to go.
JILL BAILLIE, Principal, Madeleine Choir School
The most important thing is to have a really good plan, that has been practiced by you and your family,
and that’s free.
NARRATOR
Huddle in advance so you can save critical time and minimize confusion in the first minutes and hours
after a disaster. Identify plans for exiting your home and a location outside where your family should
gather.
LENORE COREY
Everyone needs to know how to get out of your home two ways and not just out of your bedroom.
That’s kind of what people always think is, oh, I know how to get out of my bedroom. But what if
you’re downstairs in the family room and you’re not sure how to get out of that room? So you need to
practice how to get out of every room, and practice it with your family, not just during the day when it’s
a nice, ideal day and there’s no darkness or anything. You need to have it at different times during the
day.
MARGARET OLER
Basically what a family needs to think about first is, if we’re not all together, how can we get together?
Talk about it as a family and think, all right, if we’re all away from home, where would be the best
place to come together? It might be home, it might be someplace else.
WADE WATKINS
As far as your training plan, also, that meeting area is paramount. To have an area where all your
children, your wife and yourself will meet if there is a natural disaster: whether it be a fire, an
earthquake or whatever happens within your household, same thing. Go to the meeting place. Smoke in
your house? Go to the meeting place. I’ve responded personally to different incidents where people
have been affected and where the training that they have done with their children has paid off really
big.
NARRATOR
Your family reunification plans should include two meeting places: a location that is a safe distance
from your home, and a place outside the neighborhood in case you are unable to return home.
JEFF GRAVIET
We’re all busy, I go to work, you go to work, our kids go to school. At any given time, these events are
going to happen, and the immediate thing that we all want to do is to make sure our family and loved
ones are okay. Well, in order to make sure that they’re okay, we’ve got to have some kind of a plan in
place.
SUSANNA LALLEMANT
Plan to not have your cell phone for three days. You need to plan that now – what are your kids going
to do? We’ve trained them their whole lives – it could take three days to get to you from where we
work.
NARRATOR
Have a communication plan. Know where emergency numbers are located and share them with
relatives. Designate an out-of-state relative or friend to serve as a "check-in contact” in the event that
local telephone and wireless service is disrupted.
With cellular phone service down following the Christchurch earthquake of 2011, Carol Payne was
grateful for a lifeline to her teenage son across the city.
CAROL PAYNE
Almost three hours later, I finally got a call from someone in Australia. And I don’t know why someone
from Australia could get through, but no one in Christchurch could get through. And I got this phone
call and it said, are you Gabriel Kearn’s mother? And I said, well, yeah. Who’s, you know? And he’s
like, well, he’s with my brother and he’s safe. And I said, well, how old is your brother? He said, oh,
he’s like 64. I said, oh all right! You know? He’s with an adult, he’s with someone that is safe. He said,
so they have him and he got across the causeway, which is a whole different – we lived across a
causeway that was sinking – and he got across the causeway, and they’re going to try and bring him
home. And I said, okay, perfect. So that was kind of an amazing thing to get this call. And he got home
about three and a half hours later.
SUSANNA LALLEMANT
So whoever’s on the outside has everyone in your family’s contact numbers and they just, that’s their
job, stay on the phone all day. Just keep calling us, one after another, saying, Mum is here, Dad is there,
children are here. Now they’ve got to here. Okay, this person can’t move anywhere or whatever.
TERESA ZUNDEL
Safe and Well is a website application that the Red Cross maintains, so when a major disaster occurs,
you can go into Safe and Well and register yourself as safe and well. So your relatives clear across the
country or in another part of the world can log in, they can see you’re okay.
MARGARET OLER
And another thing to keep in mind is, everybody really does need to learn how to text as far as I’m
concerned, because text messaging can get through when voice communications cannot.
JEFF GRAVIET
When I send a text, I’m sending bits of information out and it’s over very, very quickly. When you can’t
get on a phone, or make a call, the text is being able to work better because it’s so much quicker and it’s
being sent out in packets of information instead of tying up the entire line.
NARRATOR
When your communication plan is complete, turn your focus to your house. In the critical moments
after a disaster, you may have to quickly shut off water, gas, and electricity. Locate the main lines and
train responsible family members to turn them off.
JEFF GRAVIET
You should know where your breakers are, to be able to shut power down, should you need to do that.
You should know how to turn your gas off. But you only want to turn your gas off only if you’ve
detected that there is a leak or some kind of a problem. But you also need to keep in mind that once you
shut that gas off, it takes a qualified technician from the gas company to come out and turn that back
on.
NARRATOR
Prepare your home for the event that you need to shelter in place. Select a room or space that is easy to
isolate from outside air intake where your family and pets can stay protected for a period of time.
But some emergencies could drive you from your home, so you must plan for how you would respond
in an evacuation. Keep a grab-and-go bag with a jacket and sturdy shoes under your bed. Maintain the
fuel level in your car above half-tank. You’ll have the chance to leave faster and avoid the challenges of
fuel shortage.
TERESA ZUNDEL
What practicing does, is it allows you to react without really thinking. In those evacuation situations,
seconds can mean the difference between life and death.
SUSANNA LALLEMANT
I never go to bed without shoes and some sort of jacket by the bed. The kids are not allowed to, either.
And if they forget, I go at night and do it.
LINDSAY EGGETT
My husband came running in the door, panicked, and said we’ve got to go, get out of here, because the
police officer’s two doors down and they’re making everybody leave.
And when he came to our door, he said that we had about fifteen minutes until the flames hit our house.
We quickly loaded up in the car and left. Looking back, we were certain that our house was going to go
up in flames.
But we did grab our important files, our computers and cameras and any pictures that we could, you
know, just grab.
JEFF GRAVIET
You’ve got to leave, you’ve got ten minutes, and you’ve got to be gone 3 days. Trying to sit down and
go through that process of what do I need to take with becomes a very challenging and daunting task.
SUSANNA LALLEMANT
We always, always have the cars full of petrol. If we get down to half, we will stop. You just can’t
afford to do that, it’s ridiculous.
CAROL PAYNE
For us we had almost a full tank of gas and that allowed us to get further outside of town than waiting
in a line for four hours to maybe get a couple of liters of gas, which was a big problem.
ELFIE ELBOGEN-BEER
We had a major problem with gasoline. We had all of our tanks full, except for my oldest son, who
came back from college. So one of our cars was almost on empty. We would have had no way to get
gasoline other than maybe four days later, still waiting two and a half hours, three hours in a line, just
to fill up your tank. And then they were also rationing the gas. So, you know, it became very
complicated.
WADE WATKINS
Within the Unified Fire Authority, and as Salt Lake County responds with the Unified Police
Department, it is a priority that we do not call for an evacuation unless it is necessary. And when we do
call for that evacuation, it is paramount, and people understand that we’re not doing that at a whim.
And it is a priority for their life to get out at that time. And we’ll let you back into your home as soon as
possible.
JEFF GRAVIET
The last thing that they want to do is evacuate people if they don’t have to, because it puts tremendous
pressure on the system to try to care for and deal with those people that are now moved out of their
residence and have to hole up somewhere else.
NARRATOR
Whether you’re leaving in a hurry or sheltered at home, a 72-hour emergency kit should be near. Your
kit has vital life-saving supplies for comfort and safety. As you begin to create a kit, remember to
customize it to your unique needs.
MARGARET OLER
I think the best place to start is to start wherever you are today. What have you got? As you look at an
emergency kit, and all of the lists that are out there for emergency kits, I bet everybody already has a
lot of those things in their home. The thing is, they’re probably scattered. So, start with a container.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a box or a bag or a wheelbarrow or whatever you have, start collecting your things
that you have around your house in a stash of emergency supplies.
KRISTINE PANKOW
Our 72-hour kit is sort of encompassed into our camp kit, because we have, we keep sort of basic dry
goods and such in the camp kit, which is also nice because we have a water filter and pots and a stove
and gas and stuff, so we’re ready to go.
NARRATOR
Pack your emergency kit with important basics:
Water — one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
MATT TAYLOR
If I was only going to buy one thing, I’d start with water, either bottled water, a 55-gallon drum, or
even a water filter. And there’s some really good water filters that’ll take some really dirty water and
make it drinkable.
MARGARET OLER
Food that requires very little or minimal or no preparation at all and then of course, a manual can
opener in order to open those cans.
JEFF GRAVIET
You want some communication capability, an AM radio that can listen to the emergency broadcasts,
because that’s where all the direction and all the information is going to be coming from. Some kind of
weather protection that can keep you warm or protected from the elements, like a poncho or some kind
of light blanket.
NARRATOR
Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air, plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place, wrench or
pliers to turn off utilities.
LOGAN SISAM
You would also need, probably, money in you bag, because depending on the disaster, a lot of
electricity may not be on and you may not be able to use your debit cards or credit cards or pull money
from an ATM.
MARGARET OLER
If there’s no electricity, no power, we need a source of light, and there’s a variety of things that are
available. Flashlights come in all different kinds of sizes, some other kinds of little light sticks that are
available.
Make sure that you have extra batteries. That’s especially important for your flashlights and your radio.
With your batteries, just like your food, make sure that they don’t go out of date on you. You need to
constantly be looking at your emergency kit and rotating things in and out of there so that what you
have in there is fresh and ready to go.
LOGAN SISAM
During a disaster, oftentimes it’s better to have a pair of these than it is to have contacts because
contacts require a little bit more maintenance.
Having a first aid kit, with your medications.
NARRATOR
Garbage bags and plastic ties, moist towelettes for personal sanitation.
LOGAN SISAM
You should also have your plan in your emergency kit, and you should have in that plan, an out of state
contact in the event that the communication locally is not working. Oftentimes it’ll work outside of the
state. And so that, to start with, is a really good foundation to a kit.
NARRATOR
As you pack away your emergency kit, consider your all-hazards approach to planning just about
complete. Now to this template, add preparations for specific disasters.
Let’s look at power outage, fires – both home and wildfires, extreme storms and floods, and
earthquakes.
Electrical power outages, or so-called Blackouts, can occur at any time, and might affect a single
neighborhood or span a much larger region.
MARGARET OLER
Any emergency can happen that might cause electricity service to be interrupted: car accidents, winter
storms, wind, all kinds of things can happen.
NARRATOR
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, two-and-a-half million people in New Jersey alone lost power for
up to two weeks. Blackouts from Manhattan throughout the eastern United States crippled businesses
and municipal governments.
MARGARET OLER
Rocky Mountain Power did send some crews out to help with the restoration following Hurricane
Sandy. What they encountered were lots and lots of power lines that were down, and trees that were in
power lines.
ELFIE ELBOGEN-BEER
We have a lot of very large, old trees that line the streets. A lot of them fell, some into homes, a lot into
power lines.
ENRIQUE BEER
The devastation, the trees, with all the power lines, that’s very important – not to get close to them, you
know, if the power line is live or it can come alive anytime, where they’re trying to see what the
problem is. Just stay away and we have to report it, and wait for the professionals to deal with it.
MARGARET OLER
People who are well qualified to remove trees from power lines will eventually get there to do that.
Depending on the circumstances, it may take some time.
NARRATOR
Fires spread quickly, burning through precious time as victims move to safety.
TERESA ZUNDEL
Our number one disaster? House fires. Hundreds of house fires a year. It’s incredible. So there’s a
family in their pajamas in their bare feet in the winter standing in their driveway, watching everything
they own go up in flames.
LENORE COREY
You need to make sure that you have smoke alarms that are working. Two-thirds of all fires that happen
in the home where people have died are where either there’s not a working smoke alarm or they just
didn’t have one there. And that’s so tragic, when it’s, you could just so easily go to the store and buy
one. And if you have children, you need to make sure that they know what the sound is. There’s so
many children now that are sleeping through the smoke alarms. So that’s why the new standard that
they have is that you actually have smoke alarms in the bedroom. So not only in the bedroom, but
outside of every sleeping room and on every floor.
Senior citizens or people that have disabilities, there’s a new kind of smoke alarm technology that are
out. You can get pillows for a bed that will actually vibrate and shake to wake them up. They also have
smoke alarms that have a strobe that will help to wake them up that way. But it’s just as important for
them to practice.
NARRATOR
Understand how to use fire extinguishers and keep them near your kitchen and garage. Conduct fire
exit drills with your family or neighbor to help prepare for rapid response.
WADE WATKINS
In my home, my children are trained. My children understand how to get out of a room if the house is
on fire. What sounds to listen for, for example, smoke detector. But that’s a priority, training them to
know when they hear that, what to do and how to do it. For them also to know that there are two ways
out of the room. Obviously the door being one, after they feel for heat on the door and use their nose to
smell the smoke, but they need an option to get out too as far as a window, at least getting by the
window, so when fire personnel show up – fire personnel are trained to respond and as soon as they
show up, they are going to be walking around the structure, or your home, and looking in every
window for an entrapped occupant.
NARRATOR
The threat of wildfires continues to smolder as more homes are built near forests and foothills, and
drought conditions persist. Often triggered by lightning, wildfires fueled by brush and trees are known
to spread quickly.
LINDSAY EGGETT
We realized more of what a threat the area was after the first two summers of living here and seeing,
you know, lightning striking the mountain and it bursting in flames, but they were all small, so it didn’t
seem like our home was being threatened. But after the second fire a lot of people kind of started to
question if this is really a safe place to live.
JEFF GRAVIET
The Herriman wild land fires last year, we had two major wild land fires that crept right into the
community, up in Herriman, and we had, on the first one, up to five thousand people that basically had
to leave. They had to take their pets, they had to – we had to move their large animals, and they had to
physically leave their homes, because the wild land fire was approaching and in some cases on top of
their property.
LINDSAY EGGETT
When the fire started it just slowly came over the peak of the mountain. Then it started to come down,
and up and over the next hill, and then started to grow in its width as it came rolling down. By the third
hill, the flames, and they were thirty-foot flames just – and it was coming down so fast. At that point it
just, you just felt like there’s no way to stop this. It’s going to, it’s going to destroy everything in its
path.
WADE WATKINS
I actually responded to the Herriman fire and spent all night for the first few nights up there last
summer, and the year before. And there were good examples, extremely good examples of people that
had cleared their property and actually had good green spaces put in, which, as far as our ability to fight
the fire and keep the fire away from their home has just increased the chances tenfold. However, there
were a few examples where people had let their weeds and everything grow right up against their
structure, along with the oak brush and different things like that. And right out of the gate, as far as our
response, that throws a lot of red flags to us on, can we even triage this home or is it a write-off at this
point?
NARRATOR
Climatologists report seeing increased trends in severe storms and other weather-related emergencies.
To prepare, understand what type of storms and events might be common in your region. Know how
you’ll be warned in an emergency, such as with a weather radio.
Floods can be large-scale, impacting entire river basins, or they can be more localized, affecting only a
neighborhood. If a flood occurs, it could develop gradually or quickly, as in the case of flash floods. If
you are in a flooded area, remember to avoid walking through moving water. Even six inches can cause
people to fall. If you live in a flood-prone region, consider elevating the furnace, water heater and
electric panel in your home, as well as other items in your basement.
NARRATOR
Earthquakes are caused by rupturing and shifting of the earth’s subterranean rock as it releases strain
built up over time.
The sudden moving or breaking of rock within the Earth generates vibrations known as seismic waves.
These allow seismologists to study and record the magnitude of an earthquake. Data reveal on average,
an earthquake measuring 8.0 or greater occurs somewhere on Earth each year. But this scale doesn’t
measure economic or property damage. When earthquakes occur in densely populated areas, there can
be severe damage to property and numerous casualties. Planning and practice can help prevent injury
and deaths.
KRISTINE PANKOW
The first thing you need to do is duck, cover and hold. It is best to get under something. So the first
thing you need to do is to protect your head and your body, and actually get under something and stay
there until the shaking stops.
KATHERINE WHIDDEN
Find a sturdy table, get underneath it, and hold on and wait for the shaking to stop. Once the shaking
stops, then you can go outside.
KRISTINE PANKOW
It’s important here, that when it starts shaking, not to run outside.
KATHERINE WHIDDEN
Basically you want to be away from anything that could fall on you. So, lights, light fixtures can fall.
Pictures on the wall can fall. Breaking glass from windows. Those are the things you want to avoid.
NARRATOR
In the first hours, days, weeks, even months after an earthquake, aftershocks should be expected.
Aftershocks are secondary seismic events that are usually less violent than an initial earthquake. But
they can be strong enough to inflict additional damage to weakened structures.
KATHERINE WHIDDEN
Aftershocks are real earthquakes, they can almost be as large as the main shock, and those are - if we
have a large magnitude here, that’s definitely something that can be a big problem.
KRISTINE PANKOW
It’s still shaking, and it shakes hard for a while. You know, a magnitude 7 earthquake, main shocks, we
can have aftershocks up to 6.9, that’s what makes it an aftershock is it’s smaller than the main shocks.
So these aren’t just small earthquakes that happen, although there’s more of the smaller earthquakes.
You could have some pretty significant and again very damaging aftershocks following a main shock.
TERESA ZUNDEL
So we have a wonderful earthquake app for smartphones. You can program in zip codes. It will monitor
the seismic activity and it will alert you when seismic activity reaches a certain level that you might
consider to be dangerous.
KRISTINE PANKOW
We have a large inventory of what we call unreinforced masonry building here, an older building stock
that hasn’t been reinforced for shaking. In a sense we’re a lot like Christchurch. So the Christchurch
earthquake that happened a couple of years ago now, there were two, one was centered outside of town
and didn’t cause much damage in Christchurch. The one that was right under Christchurch caused a lot
of damage, and many of the fatalities were due to unreinforced masonry structures.
NARRATOR
Homeowners can take a step-by-step approach to seismic upgrades. When you replace a roof or do
other home repairs, make it an opportunity to enhance your home’s stability. Talk to an engineer for
ideas.
KATHERINE WHIDDEN
This doesn’t have to be super expensive. If you’re replacing your roof anyway, then that’s a great time
to do seismic upgrades. Making sure the roof is attached well to the structure, making sure that the
house is bolted to the foundation, basically making sure all the different parts of the house are attached
to the other parts.
NARRATOR
But even before making structural improvements, take steps to secure your home to prevent injury from
falling objects.
KRISTINE PANKOW
Look at your nonstructural aspects of your building. These don’t cost much; bolt your bookcases to the
wall; big things that can fall down should be secured. Your water heater should be secured. Not only do
you not want that to fall and flood the basement and break the gas line, it’s going to be a source of
water for you to drink in the days that follow.
KATHERINE WHIDDEN
Make sure you don’t have glass picture frames above beds. Make sure you have light fixtures that
aren’t going to fall, dangerous light fixtures. Those are the easy things you can do.
NARRATOR
You may be caught in a vulnerable moment when a sudden emergency strikes. Raw human emotions
such as fear and panic can be overwhelming.
MEGANE LALLEMANT
It’s not the shaking, but all the noises around me. The windows rattling, and like you could hear people
like crying, and everything was so noisy. I couldn’t concentrate and I didn’t know what was happening.
MARGARET OLER
The one thing we have seen, over and over in emergencies, is that when people think through the
possibilities ahead of time, they take time to plan and prepare, and put in place at their easy access
those things that they might need in an emergency, that helps to reduce those stress levels.
CAROL PAYNE
You’re kind of just doing what instinctually you know what to do, and so I think innately we know,
you’ve got to get somewhere safe, you know. And there’s not really even time to sit there and think, oh,
I have this little thing and you know, I’m going to grab that. It would have been great, of course, to
have a lantern or a flashlight. All those things are really great, but when it comes down to it, a lot of
that stuff was destroyed. I mean, we lost, you know, we lost almost everything. So I, you know, I think
there’s a way to be prepared, but then on another sense, I don’t think being overly paranoid about it is
going to help you either.
SUSANNA LALLEMANT
I would say get ready now. Absolutely. You - there’s no way to truly prepare; the fear - you can’t get
prepare for that, number one; but if you know in advance that it’s coming you can say, I will act like
this in front of other people.
CAROL PAYNE
My neighbors come running out, and they were, they were terrified, and I felt like I really held it
together.
LENORE COREY
We talk with people about how stressful it could be for people to be in a disaster, not only for
themselves, but for the people they’re going to be helping. And we talk to them about the signs and
symptoms to look for in people that are dealing with maybe seeing a loved one that has passed away or
seeing just horrible different – I don’t know, just whatever the incident happens to be. And so we teach
them how to cope with that themselves, but then also how to calm other people, how to deal with other
people’s questions.
JEFF GRAVIET
When I see people that have gained some experience, they’ve either been through some kind of an
event personally or they’ve had some training provided to them, they always seem to deal with those
challenges much better than somebody who has not had any training or hasn’t had any experience.
MEGANE LALLEMANT
Me and a group of friends, we just went around to all the kids, and we talked to them and patted their
shoulder, and asked if they were okay, gave them hugs. And well, my friends cried, but I was the only
one that didn’t cry because I didn’t want the kids to freak out, because if they saw me crying, they’d all
start crying as well. And so, I just went around and I found my brother and sister, and I kept them with
me, because if there was anything else that was going to happen, I wanted them to stay with me, so at
least I can have them with me and protect them. Helping other kids at school, didn’t cry because didn’t
want younger kids to cry.
NARRATOR
In the initial crisis period after a disaster, your safety may hinge on help from someone else. Or you
may be the one reaching out to help a neighbor. It’s an old-fashioned concept, but studies show that
vibrant, tight-knit neighborhoods are better off in a disaster than areas with less social infrastructure.
Build a personal support network so you can know who to count on and who counts on you. Then, be
ready to roll up your sleeves and help.
SUSANNA LALLEMANT
Whoever is near you they become your family. Honestly, it doesn’t matter where you are – the mall, or
whatever. If it happens, those people that are within your distance become the people that I need to look
after. There’s no, these are my kids, those are your kids. It’s, look after them. And at home, and we
have signs on our – where you wait for the bus, that says, look after the ones that are around you. And
that still happens. I still do that now. Every time, you go and do the rounds, and find out, are you okay,
can I, you know, if it’s an old person, can I help you get into a chair? You know, what do you need me
to do?
TINA SPENCER
It’s very important, especially if you have elderly neighbors, you should know where they are, what
their mobility is, also, so if you do end up evacuating, you’ll be able to help them, because you’ll know
the neighbors. And also where kids are, because a lot of times, the kids, you know, in a major disaster,
they’ll hide. So it’s good to know what houses have kids in them and how many.
CAROL PAYNE
All the neighbors, for us, it was pretty amazing, because everyone’s house was totally – just really
damaged, really damaged. And most people had major water breakage inside, so it’s pouring water
inside their house. And our house didn’t have that happen, so we felt like, oh, ours is sort of safe, even
though it ended up not being safe at all. But we all just gathered, the ones that were there, probably six
families, and pulled all the food that was salvageable on the, you know, out of the fridge, because of
course, there was no power, no lights, no anything, and barbequed, you know, we had this huge
barbecue on our deck. And everyone pulled what unbroken bottles of liquor they had and drank. We
just kind of started drinking, because there was just nothing else, I don’t know, it was a way to kind of
get through it.
ENRIQUE BEER
As a community we got together – the mayor of the town, she organized a group to fill sandbags, to
help the businesses in town and the people who are close to the affected areas to sandbag their doors
and windows. So what we did is, we filled about, I would say four or five dump trucks of sand, and we
had the people come in their cars to load their bags. And we were a pretty large group of people, filling
sandbags for about five hours non-stop until it started raining and started to get things pretty, pretty
bad.
NARRATOR
You can prepare to be a critical source to your community by taking a training course in CPR and
emergency response. The Red Cross and other community groups offer free clinics. You can also get
involved in Community Emergency Response Teams or CERT. CERT volunteers work with local
emergency authorities to help assess and support their neighborhoods.
LENORE COREY
And CERT trains citizens on how to respond when first-responders are not going to be there. So they
are able to help their families themselves, and then they can go into their neighborhoods and help. And
they learn all different kinds of skills. They learn disaster preparedness, they learn how to deal with, if
there’s a small fire, they learn how to deal with medical situations they might come across, how to
search a building to see if someone is in there. They also learn how to extricate those people if they
would need to. And also, we’re just going to be seeing different kinds of stressful situations, and we
also teach them how to deal if there’s ever a terrorist incident, what CERTs would do in that type of an
incident as well.
JEFF GRAVIET
Because again, we are not going to be looking at how are we going to deal with each individual’s
problems, and how are we going to get them food and how are we going to get them water, and how are
we going to put a bandage on a cut. It’s going to be something that you’re going to have to deal with as
an individual during that crisis. You need some training, you need some capability.
LENORE COREY
On the very last night, we do a mock disaster. We bring in victims and give them all different types of
wounds and injuries. We set it up as if we’re having a 7.8 earthquake and they have to do everything
that they’ve learned in the class. We’re there as safety officers and I know most of them want to ask us
what to do, because it’s a scary experience. But they also get to see how much they’re capable of and
how much they actually can do if they allow themselves the opportunities; it’s a really good class.
MATT TAYLOR
There’s also, Red Cross has a lot of good classes for first aid, CPR, but also evacuation shelters, being a
shelter manager or being involved that way.
ANN EVANS, Regional Training Specialist, American Red Cross
CPR training and first aid training, it’s so vitally important because those emergency services are going
to be delayed. 400,000 heart attacks happen each year outside a hospital setting, so you never know
when you might encounter that. The sooner that you can provide that life-saving CPR skills to
someone, the better their chances of survival are going to be.
LENORE COREY
If people just go out into their neighborhood and they’re able to search their neighborhood and figure
out who needs help first, and prioritize people, then when help does come, when first responders do
arrive, we’re able to get to those people that much quicker.
We need to be able to get out more, we need to not just live in our little homes. We need to get to know
our neighbors so that we can bind together and help each other, and be there in that time when nobody
else is going to be.
NARRATOR
Community groups empower themselves by becoming involved in local emergency plans. Working
with a team of experts, parents of students at the Madeleine Choir School in Salt Lake City
collaborated to develop a comprehensive emergency plan.
JILL BAILLIE
We had really nice protocols in place for fire and lock-downs; however, we were lacking in the
earthquake area.
AMY CORROON
It was frightening learning about what could happen to our buildings and we’re not with our children. I
think the more prepared you are, you just feel a sense of comfort. You know the kids are going to be
well taken care of. You know they’ve practiced the drill. You know they have a safe place to go, you
know they have provisions for 24 hours, they have something to keep them warm until you can get
there.
We consulted an expert, and we started with the 24-hour kits, and once we had those in place we went
to the next step, and that was beginning the evacuation plan.
KRISTINE PANKOW
So we put together something sort of like what they do in FEMA called an incident command structure.
And it’s not like the emergency managers do, but it’s scaled for the school and the resources.
JILL BAILLIE
It is very important that we have a dynamic, flexible plan, and that the teachers and all the staff know
that plan, are versed in that plan, have practiced that plan, for several reasons: one is just peace of mind
and one is just efficiency.
KRISTINE PANKOW
It’s important to me to know that there’s going to be one person in charge making decisions. It’s also
important to me to know that every adult on this campus is going to have a role and they know what
that role is.
AMY CORROON
We have to have something in place to take care of our students. We’re responsible for them until their
parents can pick them up.
KRISTINE PANKOW
In my role as a seismologist at the U., I’m not going to be able to instantly get here to get my son, my
husband’s a pilot and hopefully he’ll be in town so he can get here instantly. But that might not be the
case, so it’s comforting to know that to the best of the abilities this school is prepared.
AMY CORROON
So we have a great, multi-layered emergency plan in place, I think. I’m really proud of what we’ve
accomplished.
NARRATOR
Without any warning, a natural disaster or an emergency crisis could thrust your family and your
neighbors into a nightmare. Make it a priority to get ready. Starting now.
ELFIE ELBOGEN-BEER
I actually feel we were lucky. The storm sped up when it turned inland, so it actually hit earlier than our
high tide. And I really feel that if we had had high tide at the same exact time, the way they originally
anticipated, it could have been so much worse. And it was very, very bad. I don’t think we would have
anticipated it was going to be so catastrophic. And so now I know, I’m not going to discount Mother
Nature and I’m not going to take any chances and I’m going to be much more on a conservative side
with every choice we make when we hear that another storm is going to come.
JEFF GRAVIET
We’ve also gone through a process of building a 72-hour kit, and we know what’s in that kit. We know
that we’ve got food, we know that we’ve got water, we know that we can communicate. We know that
we’ve got our medication in there, we know that we’ve got a little bit of cash that’s going to be there,
and we know that we have those basic pieces of survival that now I can just pick up and I can take with
me, and they all surround the family needs as well.
KRISTINE PANKOW
There’s little things that you can do that are just going to allow you to ride the storm more easily.
JEFF GRAVIET
We talk about this all hazard approach, meaning it doesn’t really matter if it’s a fire, or an earthquake or
flood or a heavy winter storm. Whatever happens, I have some ability to be able to deal with the
equation at the end.
ANNOUNCER
Funding for Preparing for Disaster: Starting Now comes from a major grant from Daily Bread and
Foodinsurance.com, providing emergency food and supplies to families, businesses, and individuals
nationwide.