Manual: Competent Communicator (CC)
Dec 14, 2007 
National Earthquake Information Center reports that on average 50 earthquakes occur every day across the globe. We live in one of the high earthquake risk regions of the world. But, how many of you are prepared for an earthquake? Fellow toastmasters and dear guests, here are 3 simple steps to prepare yourself and your family for an earthquake.
First, know and prepare your environment. Heavy objects are prone to cause more damage during earthquake. Place the heavy objects in the lower shelves and latch the cabinet doors. Secure tall items such as bookshelves to the wall. If the object is taller than its width, secure them. That’s the thumb rule. Locate safe places in your home. When earthquake strikes, you could be in a shower and you cannot run out of your home safe. So, locate safe place in each room. Remember, Kitchen and garage are risky. Locate the exits and alternative exits such as emergency windows at home and workplace. Earthquakes can cause severe damage to utility lines and it may not be safe to use them after the disaster. Locate the shut-off valves for water, gas and electricity and learn how to use them.
Second, prepare and maintain an earthquake survival kit. The important supplies that you need to maintain are: dry foods that have long shelf life, water – at least 3 to 5 gallons per person, flash lights with extra batteries, medications, walking shoes, sleeping bags, toiletries and cash. Don’t forget your pets; maintain emergency supplies for them. Do you know that there are devices to detect and alert an earthquake few seconds before they occur? However, we do not have a device yet to predict the earthquake with certainty. Earthquake could strike us any time and at any place. So, if at all you travel, keep an emergency kit ready in your vehicle. Further, you could be stranded for long time. Make sure you have enough supplies to meet your needs for at least 72 hours.
Third, prepare for emergency communication with your family members. Remember, there is no precursor for an earthquake. So, it is likely that you are isolated from your family members when a major earthquake strikes your place. When a disaster occurs, numerous phones go off hook at the same time causing severe damage to the telephone switching systems. Hence, the switches are programmed to shut itself down in case of overload to prevent the damage. The good news is that long distance lines do not go down from too many calls. Even if it goes down, it will be brought back to service much earlier than local lines. So, arrange an out of state friend or relative as your emergency contact. Here is a sample emergency card. Prepare such emergency cards for each family member. Next, if you have family members who cannot speak English, prepare emergency information cards in English indicating identification, address and special needs.
Until couple of months back, living in bay area for more than 7 years with no earth tremor, I always thought I would never have to prepare myself for an earthquake. Let me share a short story. It was October 30th. Kids were eagerly waiting for the next day, Halloween. My wife and I were in our living room watching TV. Our daughter, 18 months old, was playing with her dolls. My friend has gone for shopping with his family for their daughter’s first birthday. It was 4 minutes past 8pm. Then all of a sudden, we heard a loud noise upstairs. It was as if people were throwing huge stones on our roof. Swiftly the whole building started shaking. Flower vases and photo frames fell down. It was an earthquake, medium one, with a magnitude of 5.4. As soon as we realized, we picked our daughter and ran out of our home. Fortunately, it was a minor jolt and there was no damage. However, that served as a wakeup call for me. So, fellow toastmasters and dear guests Earthquakes are real and can occur anytime. By following simple steps outlined above, you could minimize the damage and, more importantly, save lives.
Before it is too late, ACT NOW.
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Copy of this presentation can be found here.
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