Chimneys made of bricks are likely to fall during an earthquake. People often overlook this major weak spot. Your single-story wood-framed house may be safe during an earthquake, but if the brick chimney falls into the house or across your front yard, it could cause injuries.
Category: Earthquake Preparedness
How will Public Safety Power Shutoff Affect my Disaster Preparedness?
As a PG&E customer, your electricity may be shut off if extreme fire danger conditions threaten a portion of the electric system serving your community. PG&E is implementing this precautionary measure, called a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS), to help reduce the risk of wildfires.
Extreme weather can last anywhere from a few hours to several days. Therefore PG&E recommends being prepared for outages that could last longer than 48 hours. What does this mean for you and your disaster plan?
Continue reading “How will Public Safety Power Shutoff Affect my Disaster Preparedness?”
Can Aftershocks Be Predicted?
A large earthquake just hit! Is this the mainshock or a foreshock or an aftershock? Nobody knows until the earthquake shaking starts again in the next day or week. Is another earthquake inevitable? Can the experts predict aftershocks?
Magnitude 6.4 Ridgecrest Earthquake
There have been a series of earthquakes today, July 4, 2019, near Ridgecrest, CA.
The largest of these, Magnitude 6.4, was large enough that it likely created a Jumpstart payout zone, but only in the region near the epicenter. The reason we say “likely” is that the determination is not final until 24 hours after the occurrence of the earthquake.
Update: On July 5, 24 hours later after it was determined that there was, in fact, a Jumpstart payout zone due to the M6.4 earthquake.
As a reminder, Jumpstart’s payment zone is defined by a peak ground velocity of 30 cm/sec. This is roughly equivalent to the “red zone” on the USGS Shakemap. The Shakemap for today’s earthquake can be viewed at this link:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci38443183/shakemap/intensity
This is a good reminder to spread the word about how Jumpstart can help build financial preparation for an earthquake.
Here’s a sample social post:
Check out @yourjumpstart, a new way to be financially prepared for the next #earthquake. jumpstartrecovery.com
What is a Soft Story?
During an earthquake, soft story buildings pose an extra risk. Some soft story buildings collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta and 1994 Northridge earthquakes. Cities around California are now catching up by adopting soft story ordinances and requiring retrofits. Do you live in a soft-story building?