The Great California Shakeout Pt II

The great California Shakeout on 13 Nov 08 10:00 am is a simulated 7.2 magnitude earthquake that shall strike the Palm Springs area near the Salton Sea about 50 miles from where I live. I let my wife, a writer for the Desert Sun Newspaper, tell me how much destruction there was to the house which includes the media and dining rooms as well as the kitchen. The Bedrooms, bath and garage are accessible although going into the house is risky. That leaves me with what is in the car and whatever I can salvage from the garage, the washing machine? Ready, set, go!

10:00AM the quake struck just as I was returning from morning errands. My shopping included the fixings for tonights dinner. Shock report: SHOCK!!... Make up your own feelings on the very bad scale. I sat in the car for 10 minutes and waited for aftershocks and until I stopped shaking from the adrenalin rush and thought it was safe to get out. There is no house, or kitchen but I do have dinner. Cell phones are down, no electricity, no nothing.

Always step one is to ensure the safety of those immediately around you even if it's a neighbor you don't like. Family at home? OK! Pets? Dogs are scared but the cats don't seem to care at all. Turn off the gas, circuit breakers and water. I have easy access to the the hot water tank so it is drained into as many buckets as I have. That's 50 gals of water right there in addition to the 10 liters in my car. Next is to assess what your going to have to do. For me it's getting into the garage. After inspection from the outside the garage is safe, with no signs of giving way. The problem is it's locked behind a steel roll-up door. Parked out front is my Jeep with it's off-road gear including 2 shovels, an axe, a bill hook, crow bar, jacks, rope etc. Getting into the garage presents no problem and if I don't knock it down getting in I should be safe once inside...

only the jeep keys are in the locked garage. No problem just break into the jeep to get the tools.

I'm not giving thought to food or water since I have both in my car along with my standard day pack. That's enough to keep me in the desert for a week and it's early in the day so I think signals first. I want to find out about She Who is My Wife. There are no cell phones or landlines. So I try her FRS/GMRS radio, the one she has in her car. No luck; it's probably in the car and she'll retrieve it eventually. Next dig out my amateur (HAM) radios. The antennas on the roof have all been knocked down and the radios are covered with years of dust from being in storage. An old antenna called a J-pole is in the pile of junk by the side of the house. Setting it up takes about 20 minutes. Getting the radios online takes the same with a battery from my sons motorcycle for power, plug everything in and dial in the repeater frequencies. Now check in with the Ham radio emergency teams located in various Emergency Operating Centers in the area. Once checked in I can now monitor the radios and find out what's going an. A lot of destruction and damage as I feared. More dead than was thought of. I the mean time the FM radio in my MP3 player had been providing me with news, music and Nathan Baca a local TV journalist. It is now 12:30, there have been hundreds of after shocks. I have comms so now it's time to sit, eat, take medications and contemplate the next step. I have to find out about Judi, my wife, and think about tonight. The radio reports lots of roads damaged between here and her office by the airport and despite the rule of Stay Put!On the other hand I have to find out. It's not really a problem and while my SUV will get me there over the damaged and cliogged roads a better choice is my Jeep, the wall climbing "Dirt Dog", now I can drive over debris, sand damaged roads, even cars if need be to get to Judi's office.

So time to get everything setup. Back in a few hours.