Even if you slept through this morning’s 4.6 earthquake (like me), consider it Mother Nature’s kick-in-the-pants to update your readiness for the Big One. Or as our friends at King County Office of Emergency put it: Today’s earthquake was a literal “wake up” call.

It’s true that our region has the potential for a major earthquake (remember that New Yorker article about a “Really Big One” from a few years ago?). But before you lose sleep over this, know that even a 9.0 earthquake is survivable. How we get through and recover from something so catastrophic is something we hold in our hands now, before the earthquake happens.

So what can you do?

There are many things you can do to improve your own outcomes in a catastrophic earthquake. And you don’t need to do them all right now–don’t let the prospect of getting ready overwhelm you. The important thing is to start make steps to be better prepared. Here are a few recommendations, beginning with the lowest commitment:

•  Put a pair of shoes by your bed and have decent walking shoes stored at work. Easy, right? Many injuries from earthquakes happen because of broken glass and debris, so have something to protect your feet if an earthquake happens while you’re in bed. What if an earthquake happened during work hours and transportation shut down? You might need to walk home, so make sure to store a pair of shoes for that purpose at your workplace.
• Make an emergency contact plan. Plan with your loved ones about how you’ll contact each other if local cell towers are overloaded and how you’ll meet up if there are major disruptions to roads and transportation.
• Get to know your neighbors. It sounds like just a warm fuzzy expression, but this is serious advice. The communities that recover the most quickly are those with strong social connections. And the reality is that in a large scale earthquake, the damage will be so extensive that limited government resources will be quickly overwhelmed. Be ready to help each other: neighbors helping neighbors will make the biggest difference.
• Prepare your home to stay standing. Houses built before 1980 weren’t required to have the house secured to the foundation. Anchoring the house to the foundation will greatly increase the odds that it will stay standing in a large earthquake. You can also spare damage and danger by securing heavy objects in your home, like the water heater and bookshelves, with simple and inexpensive supplies from the hardware store.

We also have some tips from our staff about what they’ve done to be ready,and if it makes it easier for you to read advice when there are pictures of cute animals involved, we’ve got you covered: read our “Adorable animals: Shameless pandering for emergency preparedness.”

Here’s our part

When the Big One hits, we know that Public Health will be among the essential services needed by the people of King County. Here are just a few of the things our Preparedness Section is working on:

• Surge support for hospitals. The healthcare system will sustain damages in a major earthquake, just when people will be in dire need of medical services. We’re prepared to help take some of the load off of hospitals by setting up stations for first aid, triage, and transport, as well as additional medical treatment centers, with staffing from our Public Health Reserve Corps.
• Promoting resilience within our communities. Plenty of people have a hard time making ends meet under ordinary circumstances; if you lack transportation, have difficulty accessing information, or have few resources, the impact of an earthquake will be even greater. Community organizations who provide essential human services to these populations will be even more critical after an earthquake, so we assist community organizations with training and planning for emergencies.
• Supporting emotional needs. We’ve developed plans with our colleagues at the Department of Community Human Services for how to triage for mental health and emotional trauma. We want to ensure that those people who need the support most after an earthquake have it.

We hope we never have to use these plans, but we are glad that we’ve got them, just in case. Now’s a good time to start your preparedness plan. It just might help you sleep better.

Originally posted July 12, 2019.