By Brigham C. Young – Syracuse City Disaster Preparedness Committee
In 2007, former governor Michael O. Leavitt said, “Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after a pandemic will seem inadequate. This is the dilemma we face, but it should not stop us from doing what we can to prepare. We need to reach out to everyone with words that inform but do not inflame. We need to encourage everyone to prepare, but not panic.”
That is the purpose of this article. Please participate in our annual Preparedness Exercise from April 15-22 – see last paragraph.
Much of the text for this article is taken directly from the website – www.shakeout.org/utah. I encourage you to go to the website for additional information, ideas, and help. You can register to be counted and serve as an example to others that you are better prepared.
Utah has experienced damaging earthquakes in the past and geologic evidence indicates that earthquakes larger than any experienced locally in historical time are likely in the future. 90% of Utah’s population lives in active earthquake zones. We all must become better prepared for major earthquakes, and practice how to protect ourselves when they happen. The purpose of the ShakeOut is to help people and organizations do both.
The next statewide Utah ShakeOut is a DRILL planned for April 20, 2023. This exercise is NOT predicting an earthquake to occur. This encourages every person who works, lives, and plays in Utah to participate in the earthquake drills at work, school, or home, practicing earthquake safety and other aspects of their emergency plans.
The DRILL is pretty simple. At 10:15 a.m., wherever you are at that moment—at home, at work, at school, anywhere—you should Drop, Cover, and Hold On as if there were a major earthquake occurring at that very moment, and stay in this position for at least 60 seconds. This exercise would be a great opportunity to incorporate additional training or more extensive drills.
The primary goal of the ShakeOut is to get your family or organization to be prepared to survive and recover quickly from big earthquakes – wherever you live, work, or travel. Use the ShakeOut as an opportunity to learn what to do before, during, and after an earthquake.
Visit www.earthquakecountry.org/sevensteps for tips on how to prepare, survive, and recover.
To Sign up for Tips and Info Text UTAHQUAKE to 43362
In the event of an actual emergency, local areas in Syracuse will activate the Rapid Disaster Assessment Program (RDAP). That was the topic for last month’s article. If you missed it, please go back and read the article and participate in our annual Preparedness Exercise from April 15-22 by watching this 9-minute video–www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyVL2koZvks