Get Ready & Stay Informed Before the Next Big Earthquake

Stay Safe and Learn More with These Tips, Tools and Online Resources

Based on the United States Geological Services earthquake map, in the last 30 days, the United States has seen 1,697 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.5 or greater. With October marking the anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake and the international event focused on earthquake safety called the Great Shakeout planned, this blog shares details on ways the community can get ready for the next big earthquake, offering tools, tips, and online resources to keep your family safe before, during, and after.

October 17 marks the 33rd anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake near Santa Cruz which was responsible for 63 deaths and 3,757 injuries and approximately $6 billion in damage across the Bay Area.

The City of Palo Alto lies between two large faults — the San Andreas and Hayward Faults. Although advances in seismic retrofitting have taken place since then, scientists are warning that a major earthquake of 6.7 magnitude or higher is likely in the next 10 years, which would still cause massive damage. The threat of earthquakes extends across the entire San Francisco Bay region, and a major quake is likely before 2032. To make sure you stay safe, and potentially mitigate damage to your property, read on about various activities and programs to help you and your family prepare for a major earthquake.

Join Millions For the Great ShakeOut

Join millions of people around the world on October 20 for International ShakeOut Day — also known as the Great ShakeOut — when everyone participates in one-minute earthquake drill at work, school, or home at 10:20 a.m. local time. Whether you do it with your family or co-workers — in person or on video conferencing — this is the perfect day to make sure you know the seven steps for staying safe before, during and after an earthquake.

Practice Drop, Cover and Hold On drills

Check on disaster supplies here and here. You should have at least seven days of supplies as a large earthquake could severely damage our local infrastructure including telecommunications, transportation, utilities, power generation and more.

• Make sure your spaces are secured and insurance updated to mitigate injury, damage and financial hardship
• Update your emergency plans, including evacuation and meetup points, as well as signs to let your neighbors and first responders know you’re safe or need help.
• Another great resource for disaster preparedness plans is our recent blog.
• Make changes to your emergency contacts and other preparations recommended by the Earthquake Country Alliance.

If you would like to get a free PowerPoint presentation or watch helpful videos for leading shakeout drills for your company, employees at home or school, go here. You can also find additional resources for drill manuals, messaging and more here.

Once you decide whom you’re doing the ShakeOut with and where, register for free here.

Safety Tips During an Earthquake

Ready.gov provides quick safety tips to remember when an earthquake does hit.

• If you are in a car, pull over and stop. Set your parking brake.
• If you are in bed, turn face down and cover your head and neck with a pillow.
• If you are outdoors, stay outdoors away from buildings.
• If you are inside, stay and do not run outside and avoid doorways.

For more quick tips during and after an earthquake hits, go here.

Sign Up for Emergency Notifications & Stay Informed

Stay Informed and Connected with Local Safety Officials

Isolation can be frightening in an emergency. Get the information and support you needed by subscribing to important City and County of Santa Clara updates during widespread emergencies, including:

· AlertSCC which alerts you to unforeseen events or emergencies such as natural disasters, crime bulletins, power outages, and more.

· Palo Alto Police alerts on Twitter and sign-up for Nixle

· City updates on Twitter, Facebook and Nextdoor

· City’s newsletter signup

· Power updates on the Utilities Outage Map and Palo Alto Utilities on Twitter

· Palo Alto Fire Department on PulsePoint, which features early notifications on incidents

· Ongoing news reports from KCBS radio and Stanford’s KZSU radio.

Download the MyShake App for Early Warnings

The MyShake App, available on both Android and Apple phones, provides early warning earthquake alerts provided in partnership with USGS ShakeAlert™ and CalOES. Download it and get earthquake information at your fingertips, see damage reports shared by fellow community members, and help build a global seismic network.

Here’s how it works:

• When your phone is stationary, MyShake is ready to collect data from its motion sensors.
• MyShake uses a neural network to decide which motion is produced by earthquakes and which isn’t.
• When MyShake detects an earthquake, its network of phones records the shaking to collect valuable data.

As a licensed Operator for the USGS ShakeAlert® project, MyShake delivers ShakeAlert-powered alerts across California, Oregon, and Washington for magnitude 4.5 or greater quakes to users in the areas of light to severe shaking. Lessons learned from this work may enable us to expand earthquake alerts to other countries around the world. Learn more here.

Gain U.S. Geological Survey Notifications

You can also subscribe to receive notifications of earthquakes when they occur from the USGS.

Check Out Online Resources

My Hazards Website

The California Office of Emergency Services offers a My Hazards app, which MyHazards is a great tool for discovering hazards such as earthquakes in your area and learning steps to reduce personal risk. Using the MyHazards tool, users may enter an address, city, zip code, or may select a location from a map. The map targets the location and allows users to zoom and scroll to their desired view. The screen then presents information on the risks identified within the search radius, and recommended actions.

Check out the website here and learn additional details on how you may be at risk, including whether you are in an Earthquake Shaking or Liquefaction zone, and what to do.

Red Cross Resources

The American Red Cross offers a series of online tools to help you prepare before an earthquake, know what to do during and after an earthquake to keep you and your family safe. Their Earthquake Safety Guide shares tips on how to strengthen your home to prepare for an earthquake, including during a pandemic, and how to teach children about earthquakes. You can also download digital resources and videos on earthquakes and more at redcross.org/youthprep.

Volunteer to Help Your Community After an Earthquake

When our local area experiences a large earthquake, there will not be enough first responders to meet the many needs of the community, so the City is always looking for volunteers to help improve preparedness in your neighborhood. Learn more here.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

While very strong or intense earthquakes are rare, less powerful earthquakes can also be dangerous. The key to surviving an earthquake and reducing your risk of injury lies in planning, preparing, and practicing what you and your loved ones will do if it happens. Find resources for preparing for an earthquake as well as staying safe during and after one on the CDC’s website here.

Interactive USGS Earthquake Maps

Check out the U.S. Geological Society’s most popular interactive maps, such as the latest earthquakes and known and suspected fault maps. An earthquake scenarios map features ground motions and effects of specific hypothetical large earthquakes. Click here to view them.

USGS Earthquakes for Kids Resources

Inspire kids to learn about the science of earthquakes with the USGS’ Earthquakes for Kids portal, which offers fun and educational activities for kids, from the earthquake animations and science fair projects to cool earthquake facts, history, photos and more.

California Department of Conservation Historical Data

For history enthusiasts, the California Department of Conservation offers data on big California earthquakes going all the way back to the year 1700. The chart features earthquakes of magnitude greater than or equal to 6.5, or that caused loss of life or more than $200,000 in damage. Find the chart here.

Ready.gov Earthquake Guide

Ready is a National public service campaign designed to educate and empower the American people to prepare for, respond to and mitigate emergencies, including natural and man-made disasters. The Earthquake guide is another great resource for making a plan and staying safe during and after an earthquake. Learn more here.

Retrofit Grants for Qualified Homeowners

The Earthquake Brace + Bolt (EBB) Program helps qualified homeowners lessen the potential for damage to their houses during an earthquake by providing grants of up to $3,000 for completing a code-compliant seismic retrofit. To qualify:

• Homeowner must live in the house as their primary residence and be the owner of record.
• The house must be located within one of the ZIP Codes designated by EBB.
• The house must meet the structural requirements of the California Existing Building Code (CEBC), Chapter A3 retrofit which is done completely in the crawl space around the perimeter of the foundation.
• The house must not have a completed Chapter A3 brace and bolt retrofit before being accepted into EBB.
• The building permit must be received and dated after acceptance into EBB.
• If a homeowner chooses to hire a contractor to do the EBB retrofit, the contractor must be listed on the EBB Contractor Directory.
• The house must successfully pass a final inspection by a local building inspector, confirming the retrofit was done in accordance with CEBC Chapter A3.

The program is also offering additional grants specifically for income-eligible households with an annual income of $72,080 or less. These combined grants can help provide up to 100% of the funds needed to help strengthen houses in vulnerable populations.

Homeowners can register from October 18 through November 29, 2022, here. Want to sign up for reminders when registration opens? Click here.

More Online Resources

For the City’s Office of Emergency Services online resources, go here.

For more about emergency preparedness, go here.

FEMA’s Earthquake Safety Checklist

Palo Alto Historical Association’s article about the 1906 Earthquake’s impact on Palo Alto.