Earthquake and Disaster Preparedness Month

Duck and cover drill prepares utility employees for the real thing.

May 14, 2001

Employees and guests duck under table during earthquake exercise.

“When will ‘The Big One’ hit the Wasatch Front? The chances of a large earthquake hitting the Wasatch Front in the next 50 years have been estimated at between 5 and 25 percent. A 7.5 magnitude earthquake could result in over 3,000 fatalities, 40,000 injuries and between 11 and 18 billion dollars estimated damage,” says Mike Stever, Salt Lake City Emergency Program Manager. Stever’s warning about the potential for a major earthquake ushers in April as Earthquake and Disaster Preparedness Month. “The most important decisions we can make concerning earthquakes are the ones we make before an earthquake,” he continues. With those words of wisdom, Salt Lake City, including the Department of Public Utilities and other government agencies, sponsored a free valley-wide “It’s Our Fault” earthquake and emergency preparedness fair at the Utah State Fair Park on Saturday April 28. About 500 people attended the fair.

On April 25, 2001 at 10.30 a.m. the Department of Public Utilities conducted a systemwide “duck and cover drill” to prepare utility employees to survive a major earthquake event, and then to be available for an effective emergency response action to operate and restore damaged ultility infrastructure. All department personnel and visitors participated.  Outlying facilities and field personnel were linked up to the exercise by radio communications.  “Overall,” said Eric Johnson, Safety Program Specialist, “the exercise was successful as a training tool which sharpened employee awareness to the importance of taking cover and reporting their location and status to their supervisors.” A touch of realism was made possible with the Salt Lake City Fire Department personnel preparing Public Utilities employees with realistic mock injuries. No one was spared from the exercise.  Visiting consultants joined with Public Utilities employees in ducking under the conference room table during the alert.  Afterwards, the exercise was critiqued and recommendations were made for improvements.

Being involved in an earthquake emergency is not that far fetched. Just recently, the Pacific Northwest was jolted by a major earthquake.  According to an article in the May 2001 Opflow, published by the American Water Works Association, Seattle, Washington is situated in an active earthquake zone. On February 28, 2001 Seattle was struck with a 6.8 magnitude earthquake.  In the article, Brian Tarbuck describes the sensation of going through the real thing.  “The floor and walls in my office are made of concrete. Yet, the 8-inch walls were visibly moving, which made no sense to me. ‘Nothing,’ I thought, ‘can move that much concrete! Concrete doesn’t bend!’ It wasn’t something my mind could easily comprehend. Something else I realized, as I looked out the window from where I crouched under my desk, was that men outside…were wobbling.”   Despite his disbelief in the force of the quake, he believes in protecting one self in a seismic event. “Diving under your desk is not an act of cowardice…it just might save your limbs and life during an actual emergency,” says Tarbuck.

A simulated  employee injury added an element of realism to the exercise.

Communications are always rated as the most important aspect of any emergency response.  After every emergency operation, communications usually come up as a major problem. Communication systems are overwhelmed in the aftermath of a disaster. Tarbuck found that e-mail was the easiest way of communicating with others during the post event confusion.

The recent Seattle earthquake and Salt Lake City preparedness activities are reminders that we live in an active earthquake zone along the Wasatch Front. The potential of experiencing an earthquake is real. It is recognized that knowing how to protect utility employees and their families are important to the utilities' ability to adequately respond to the aftermath of an earthquake event. The experience gained from duck and cover drills raises awareness that hopefully will prepare utility employees to deal with the effects of a major seismic event, both at home and on the job.