by Carolyn Seitz
cmseitz@mindspring.com
If you're among those people who've had an interest in earth science and in earthquakes in and around Southern California, you already know that historically, we go through periods of a few years with earthquakes of relatively light magnitude, no property damage, no injury, and with little attention paid since relatively few people feel them. In my own mind, I've called these periods "quell" periods.
Conversely, we go through periods lasting a few years during which we experience greater numbers of earthquakes at higher magnitudes and in these periods of time, we generally experience at least one earthquake that causes a great deal of property damage, loss of life, injury and tremendous adverse impact on business and quality of life for many. Technology doesn't yet exist that allows us to predict specifically when each of these periods will begin or end.
More and more attention is being paid to preparedness, and the message about preparedness stresses that we, as individuals and families, be prepared to take care of ourselves.
The Office of Homeland Security for the United States of America has dedicated a great deal of resources to not only teaching preparedness and advocating for it, but is evaluating the way resources are allocated when a catastrophic event occurs anywhere in the country, looking for more timely, cost effective ways to respond. Since many of you have completed basic CERT classes, if not a whole host of other classes available to help you be better prepared to take care of yourself and your family, you've been an active participant in the outreach effort being made by Homeland Security and its subsidiary agency, FEMA and/or its Emergency Management Institute. The State of California is focusing much more attention on preparedness and so is the County of Los Angeles. Our elected County Board of Supervisors represented, Michael Antonovich, is also advocating for preparedness and for everyone to participate in Community Emergency Response Team trainings.
As momentum for preparedness grows and as more people recognize that being responsible for ourselves is critical to our effort to protect ourselves and our families, momentum is also growing for neighbors to connect with neighbors, whole neighborhoods are connecting, working together, cities are developing more cooperative relationships with their adjoining cities, and each time we witness a catastrophic event somewhere else in the world, we wake up a little more to the reality that we can't stand alone and we can't keep thinking that law enforcement or fire fighters or the National Guard will rush in to save us when the next event happens here. You know that won't happen.
I thank our partners in Sierra Madre, Pasadena, Alhambra and Burbank and other cities near us with whom we work on a daily basis, and our local FEMA representatives for partnering with us and for being willing to share resources and knowledge and I thank all of you for every effort you make to reach out to others.
As always, stay safe!
Carolyn Seitz is a public safety volunteer and the Altadena Chamber's Citizen of the Year for 2010. If you'd like to receive Carolyn Seitz' occasional emails about safety and preparedness, drop her a note at cmseitz@mindspring.com.
