Even though the City Council is on its long traditional August break and won’t be back in session until mid-September, there are so many important things going on that our head has been spinning. Then, early Sunday, August 24th at 3:20 am, a couple of sharp jolts followed by what seemed like a very long period of shaking woke us up with the following message.
There is a Big-Time Wake-Up Call for every neighborhood in Berkeley and we had better pay attention. NOW!
It’s not a matter of if a big earthquake will strike Berkeley, it’s a matter of when and the sooner we accept that message the better our entire City, neighborhoods, homes and personal lives will be. By “accept” we mean not just talk about it, but will actually take action to protect our lives and those we live and work with. We read the newspapers about the millions of dollars now facing the communities of Napa, American Canyon and Vallejo ($300 million in damages to private homes and businesses in Napa alone, not including public buildings and infrastructure and lost business inventory), there is also the human loss that comes with the loss of homes and businesses, personal keepsakes, the historic fabric of a community, the close calls and frightening experiences. Then in a few days, inevitably the images begin to fade away and disappear as we move ahead with our lives.
That’s a mistake, a big mistake, and here’s why.
Experts are now saying that the earthquake, magnitude 6.0 (the largest in the Bay Area since Loma Prieta, magnitude 6.9 — 25 years ago in 1989) that occurred on Sunday, August 24th, on the West Napa Fault placed more stress on three other faults: the Northern part of the Hayward Fault, the Rodgers Creek Fault and the Concord-Green Valley Fault. Further, that since a major earthquake occurred 146 years ago in 1868 on the Hayward Fault, that Fault is the most likely one that will give way next. The United States Geologic Survey estimates there is a 31% chance of a 6.7 or greater earthquake over the next 20 years on the Northern part of the Hayward Fault that runs from one side of Berkeley to the other, south to north.
The predominant form of earthquake faults in California is called a “strike-slip.” That’s the type of earthquake fault we know as the San Andreas that struck San Francisco on April 18, 1906, with a magnitude of 7.8, causing an estimated 3,000 deaths and $524 million in property damage ($20 million attributable to the earthquake alone within the city of San Francisco).
The definition of a “strike-slip” from the Earthquake Glossary found on the U.S.G.S. website is:
Strike-slip faults are vertical (or nearly vertical) factures where the blocks have mostly moved horizontally. If the block opposite an observer looking across the fault moves to the right the slip style is termed right lateral; if the block moves to the left, the motion is termed left lateral.
Newspapers reported that the strike-slip Napa quake shifted the fault’s 2 faces by 2.5 inches. The shift following the ’06 San Francisco quake was measured in feet. The greater the shift, the density of population and type of structures built on or near the fault, the type of soil the building is constructed on, the depth of the quake, and the length of the shaking affect lives and property damage. The concern about the Northern part of the Hayward Fault has always been because it is so heavily developed.
There are things that everyone can and must do now to prepare for that inevitable time — when the “Big One” hits Berkeley. The West County Times published such a list on August 25, 2014 using as their sources the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross. BNC has used that list and modified it based on our own experiences and other information.
What We Should All Be Doing Now
- Have on hand, enough food, water and other supplies to last your household 5 days to a full week. Plan on using one gallon of water, per person, per day. Don’t forget to include personal hygiene items, pet food, medications, paper products, cooking equipment, sturdy shoes, extra clothing, jackets, sweaters, blankets, sleeping bags, first-aid supplies, flashlights, batteries, money, fire extinguisher, and the like. Think it through as to all the things you might need to “camp-out” in your own yard for a full week without access to a grocery store, coffee shop or T.V. Put all the items you think you need together in a place where you can quickly get to them and move them out. A garbage can on wheels is a good option.
- Be sure to have a radio (with batteries or solar) tuned to 1610 am, Berkeley’s Emergency Radio Station.
- Move beds inside your home away from windows and skylights, and remove heavy pictures or shelves from above your beds.
- Keep a pair of shoes next to your bed and just under it so that if you have to leap out of bed, you know where you shoes are and they won’t be full of pieces of glass.
- Secure heavy bookcases or china cabinets to studs in walls throughout your house.
- Place emergency power failure lights in hallways, bathrooms and bedrooms.
- Secure cabinet doors with latches.
- Attach heavy objects suspended from the ceiling to the studs.
- Strap your water heater securely to the wall.
- Consult a licensed structural engineer to make sure that your home is bolted to the foundation and properly reinforced.
- Consult an engineer on the adequacy of your chimney.
- Designate a person outside your area as a message center. Calls to areas outside the quake area are more likely to go through than calls made to someone within the area.
- Have a family earthquake plan regarding who will pick up the kids, who’s in charge of pets and where you will meet up with each other.
- Hold a neighborhood/block meeting and plan ahead so that neighbors can help each other, particularly the elderly and disabled. Neighborhood meetings are also a place to get more ideas on how to prepare and help each other. No one should be alone to face the aftermath. Possibly you can qualify for an “earthquake cache” that includes large items like a generator, paid for by the City. There are also aid and rescue courses offered by the City which will help you and your neighbors survive the quake. Contact the City’s Office of Emergency Services, 981-5605 or go to the City’s website, www.City of Berkeley and search for “earthquake preparedness” for further information.
- Learn how to turn off the gas at the meter, the water at the meter and the electricity at the fuse or circuit breaker box and keep necessary tools near the gas and water meters.
The City of Berkeley, along with Albany, is planning a citywide earthquake preparedness day for October 18, 2014 — sign up to participate at www.CityofBerkeley.info/prepare. See the Announcements Section for more information about this and remember — It’s not “if”, it’s when!