Dear Editor,
For the first time ever, Tony Weiler is right. The disaster
caused by Hurricane Katrina should make us all consider local
earthquake readiness. While we are fortunate not to be living below
sea level in a hurricane-prone area, we do, as Mr. Weiler said,
live dangerously close to one of the planet’s major plate
divisions.
Dear Editor,
For the first time ever, Tony Weiler is right. The disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina should make us all consider local earthquake readiness. While we are fortunate not to be living below sea level in a hurricane-prone area, we do, as Mr. Weiler said, live dangerously close to one of the planet’s major plate divisions.
An earthquake does not cause flooding as does a hurricane, but it also gives absolutely no advance notice. All the statistical models can tell us is that there will be a “big” one (7.0 or greater) within the next 150 years.
Healthy people between the ages of 5 and 75 can live a relatively long time without food, but not without water. Were power out, a backyard gas-grill can provide necessary energy to sterilize water. Get one with a side-burner.
In our homes, we can prepare not only by considering center of gravity when building furnishings (not one of my creations, many of which have glass, broke or fell over in 1989), but also, more importantly, knowing the geologic-survey results of one’s location: If you’re on “sandy soil,” you are at higher risk. How is the ground beneath the local hospital?
In 1906, subsequent fires from broken gas lines, destroyed most of San Francisco. Is that a risk here? Have our gas lines deteriorated?
Alan Viarengo, Gilroy
