San Francisco Earthquake Preparedness

The recent events in Japan have brought safety and preparedness for an earthquake back to the forefront of public consciousness. as the world knows, San Francisco is situated near several major faults and earthquake experts are always reminding us that the next major quake is not a question of if, but when.

With that in mind, here are seven basic steps that you can easily take so that you will be more prepared for the next earthquake in San Francisco.

STEP 1. Identify potential hazards in your home and begin to fix them.
STEP 2. Create a disaster-preparedness plan.
STEP 3. Create disaster kits.
STEP 4. Identify your building’s potential weaknesses and begin to fix them.
STEP 5. Protect yourself during earthquake shaking.
STEP 6. After the quake, check for injuries and damage.
STEP 7. When safe, continue to follow your disaster-preparedness plan.

You can also download this information about being prepared for an earthquake in PDF format if you prefer.

Another website that offers excellent information is 72hours.org, which is geared towards disasters in general, but contains plenty of useful and helpful information about how to be prepared in an earthquake.

The city of San Francisco also offers a 24/7 text based alert system called AlertSF that will notify you of events, both major and minor. I’ve been signed up with for quite a while and it has actually provided text messages about a variety of low-level accidents and problems that have occurred with information about areas to avoid, alternate routes, and other information. I would highly recommend signing up for it.

So, take a little time and do some planning. I know that no one, myself included, likes to plan for horrible things but experts agree that spending some time in advance to prepare is one of the most important things you can do for the safety of yourself and your loved ones.