Haiti: Lessons for Survival

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shecky

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As you've likely heard, Haiti has been hit with a very strong earthquake, magnitude 7, and has caused devastating destruction and loss of life.

The US is no stranger to earthquake. Commonly occurring on the west coast, some of the strongest recorded in history were far from there. Smack dab in the center of the CONUS, the New Madrid earthquakes of 1812 is estimated to have been 7-8 magnitude, and felt as far away as New York. No doubt a repeat performance can happen any time, and it would be bad.

I've lived through two major quakes in Los Angeles ('71, '94), neither as strong as what Haiti or New Madrid went through. the magnitude scales used are logarithmic, so the thought of a 7 hitting here is pretty sobering. Thinking of how it would affect a place like Southern Missouri, which hasn't seen a quake in a long time and is mostly alien to the possibility, is downright scary. Any thoughts out there about how one could prepare for such a thing?
 
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Earthquakes are probably some of the worst disasters. For a hurricane you can prepare with time. A volcano gives some time with smaller eruptions. Those quakes are a nasty surprise.

Preparation: a GOOD insurance policy, build the best you can, learn your workplace and home structurally-safe places.

I found this PDF from FEMA basic things about earthquakes.
 

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There's really not much you can do except have the normal supplies on hand that you would for any emergency. But they still could get buried.

The main thing would be to get out in the open if possible. I was in an 8.0 in 1968 in Okinawa, and will never forget it.
 
Yeah it's no so much what you can do beforehand but what you can do during and after.
 
Carry some basics with you ALL the time. Whistle, small LED flashlight, multitool, fire lighter, small prybar (Atwood type), micro pen, probably a few things more but those should help a lot. You can carry all of those in you pockets basically all the time.
 
I would want to be in good shape and have good walking shoes.

If the quake occurred where I work I would want to leave the city and go home to my farm where I can subsist, and if the roadways were unsafe that would entail walking about 20 miles.
 
This 7.1 magnitude earthquake in a populated area is certainly going to be a lesson for all of us to learn from. No electricity. No fuel. No water. Pretty much... no nothing.

Guess I need to donate to the Red Cross. They ran out of supplies in one day.
 
no way to really prepare for an earthquake.

Not being where they are likely to happen is about the best you can do.

That being said, the normal stuff about having water, food, comfort, and protection still apply.
 
Sadly, until the people in-country adopt a "survival" mindset and maintain the proper gear, they will always be at a deficit. To start, mitigation and infrastructure reinforcement goes a long way. Unfortunately, Haiti is so poor and beat-up from the flash flooding from each hurricane season, International funding goes quick. They have a long and arduous march ahead of them.

I suspect that there will be a large number of them washing up on Florida's shores, as they seek to distance themselves from the mess that is their homeland. Unfortunately, it becomes a burden on our residents.
 
Keep looking at the photos of Haiti.
If you understand construction.
NO REBAR !!
Same thing happened here last year. Fortunately most of the buildings were very small and one story. NO REBAR. Shattered like beer bottles.

I went to help re-do 40 or so houses afterwards and they freaked at the amount of re-bar I used and they never did understand the concept of columns and tie beams. I reassured them that it wont happen again !
 
22-rimfire said:
This 7.1 magnitude earthquake in a populated area is certainly going to be a lesson for all of us to learn from. No electricity. No fuel. No water. Pretty much... no nothing.

Guess I need to donate to the Red Cross. They ran out of supplies in one day.
Click to expand...

Just as a reminder, the '89 Loma Prieta quake was a 7.1. But here in SF, though there was some tragic loss of life, it was nothing like what Haiti is going through.

For the vast majority of people, Loma Prieta wasn't a survival situation. Power and gas was out for a few days to a week. Some highways and bridges were shut down, there were some well-known tragic failures of some highways, bridges, and residential areas. Making commercial transactions was more difficult. Obviously, though, the Bay Area was reasonable prepared for a quake of this magnitude, from construction codes on down, but an 8.0 here might be another story.

For our 7.1, the lessons were more foresight into what one might need if the earthquake was bigger. For our 7.1, I learned you should have lights and batteries, and headlights and lanterns (the two types of lights most of us are least likely to have) are the most useful. Make sure you know how to turn off your own gas. Have a cache of cash, small bills and change, because if the local stores are still running, they'll be on a cash-only basis and in many cases won't be able to make change. But implications for a bigger earthquake are more profound.

On the other hand, if a 7.1 hit an area of the US that didn't already have earthquake codes and plans in place, I'm sure it would be much more serious.
 
We Americans are fast to open our hearts and pocket books to help victims of natural disasters. Of course, our legislators' hands are already rumaging through our pockets for our US Govt aid... after they gave themselves a raise, of course, and denied SSI recipients their COLAs.

The big problem I see is travel. Your car/truck may be in a ditch, hole, closed earthcrack, under a collased parking deck, etc - with your thoughtfully equipped bug-out-bag in the trunk. Oops. Carry it with you, and it may be covered by debris - even just a few feet away. We really will need what is on our person to be necessary... think it through carefully.

I really feel for those folks - but what can we do? Most of the money you give goes to 'overhead'... real goods may never get there. Cadaver dogs - portable demolition tools - body bags - disinfectant - that is what they need.

For our own 'preparation', a pocket LED light - whistle - nutrition bar - pocket-tool - all make sense - but what else?

Stainz
 
I was talking to a friend of mine who lived in LA and he endured the last 4 big ones in the 90's. They had a backpack with supplies ready whenever the tremors started. All documents where there: Passport, other ID, insurance, title documents etc... Maybe some medicines and an extra prescription glasses.
 
Everyone should prepare for such emergencies, because it will affect you even if you don't live in an earthquake zone. As shecky said, the New Madrid seismic zone is a ticking time bomb that will explode one of these days. They estimate that major quakes in that region happen on the order of once every 200-300 years and the last was in 1811. So we're in the period now where we're due. A 7.0 or 8.0 shaker in that area would be catastrophic. St. Louis and Memphis would be hit hard. Most of the major bridges and rail lines over the Mississippi would be destroyed or severely damaged, cutting off or severely limiting major supply lines to both the East and West Coasts. Then there would be disease from the rotting corpses, the staggering costs of rescue and rebuilding (which in these tough economic times could very well bankrupt us), the polluting of the river affecting millions downstream, the impact of millions of refugees, massive flooding (the 1811 quake caused Ol' Miss' to run backward and overflow her banks, wiping out towns and creating lakes miles away which still exist today) etc. So even if you weren't involved it would still impact you. In some areas grocery stores might run low or out of supplies completely. Retail stores like Wal-Mart could also face shortages. There might be runs on certain items, widespread panic, confusion and chaos, etc.
 
Toucan Oasis said:
Keep looking at the photos of Haiti.
If you understand construction.
NO REBAR !!
Same thing happened here last year. Fortunately most of the buildings were very small and one story. NO REBAR. Shattered like beer bottles.

I went to help re-do 40 or so houses afterwards and they freaked at the amount of re-bar I used and they never did understand the concept of columns and tie beams. I reassured them that it wont happen again !
Click to expand...


Rebar, shmeebar! I want to use rubber cement as mortar and styrofoam as bricks!
 
Unless you carry your BOB with you all the time, it's pretty unlikely that you can "prepare" for an earthquake. Unless you're in survival mode 24/7 (ALWAYS 100% of the time carrying appropriate gear), unfortunately the best is just to avoid fault areas :rolleyes:.

BTW, I've just made an eBay purchase and donated to the Red Cross.
 
Toucan Oasis said:
Keep looking at the photos of Haiti.
If you understand construction.
NO REBAR !!
Same thing happened here last year. Fortunately most of the buildings were very small and one story. NO REBAR. Shattered like beer bottles.

I went to help re-do 40 or so houses afterwards and they freaked at the amount of re-bar I used and they never did understand the concept of columns and tie beams. I reassured them that it wont happen again !
Click to expand...

Don't know about Costa Rica, but if Haiti even has things like building codes, it's unlikely they're enforced. Probably low likelihood that they could afford such a luxury in such an impoverished economy. Unreinforced concrete is the most economical building material, rebar being an imported luxury, lumber scarce and an expensive import in a largely deforested island, and amateur makeshift architecture for common buildings.

Unreinforced masonry is one reason a New Madrid earthquake would be so devastating. Commonly found architecture in that region is unheard of in places like California. Partly because modern building codes make it costly. Mostly because buildings originally constructed in those styles simply never survived. The ones that remain are likely only facade shells hiding modern construction underneath. It's really hard to prepare for being buried under tons of bricks
 
Yes, survival gear can be buried under debris in an earthquake. That's why you need multiple stashes if you live in earthquake country. Put a pack in your car, keep one near you where you work. Get one of those rolling plastic garbage cans, store gear and spare clothes in it, and leave it in a corner of your yard farthest away from any structure. Keep camping equipment in outdoor sheds. Emergency water supplies should also be in multiple locations and also stored outside your home.

Redundancy is the only way to deal with living in earthquake country.
 
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