Read This Blog!

I’ve been in the earthquake preparedness business long enough to see an enormous variety of methods used to secure furniture, as well as myths regarding the nature of earthquakes, and multiple ways people have advised on how to survive an earthquake.

Here are a few highlights to help you prepare before an earthquake, and thrive after an earthquake:

• Utilize the USGS website (usgs.gov) for accurate earthquake information
• Don’t get in a doorway in a quake, get under a table and hold on
• If you are in bed in an earthquake, stay there and put a pillow on your head.  The so-called “Triangle of Life” is nonsense.
• Do not secure furniture with pot-metal l-brackets.  Stay away from Velcro fasteners which don’t have an adequate 90% pull resistance, and those open/close flap fasteners that fold close, as they also have a 90 degree deficiency.  I recommend the Safe-T-Proof fastening system, which features a locking system that works well regardless of the direction of the pull. The SAFE-T-PROOF safety fasteners and furniture fasteners can be seen demonstrated in the Mobile Earthquake Simulator on this Earthquake Simulator video
• Unless you want to change out the product a couple of times a year, stay away from wax to secure your valuables like statues and collectibles.  Instead use putty.  Putty’s don’t dry out and don’t need to be replaced.  I prefer the “Quake Secure” product.
• Take the number of people in your family and add them up.  Take the total number of pets in your family and divide by two.  Add the totals together and multiply by 10.  That is how many gallons of water you need to have on hand.  My family has me, my wife, my step-daughter, and my mother-in-law.  That is four people.  We have 3 cats and a dog.  Four pets divided by two is two.  Four plus two is six.  Six time ten is sixty.  That is how much emergency drinking water we have.  It is in sealed water barrels, and has a preservative and a 5 year shelf life.
• Keep construction grade (3 mil) trash bags and cat litter on hand to turn your non-functioning toilet (after an earthquake) into a functioning toilet.
• Buy the book “Peace of Mind in Earthquake Country” by Peter Yanev and read it cover to cover.
• Hide at least $200 in cash somewhere safe so you can get it after an earthquake.

 Complete each of these as described and sit back and relax.  You are now more prepared for an earthquake than 95% of Americans!