YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    California, other states preparing for earthquakes

    Associated Press – Thu, Oct 18, 2012

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Get ready to rumble. Millions in the United States and several countries are set to participate in an earthquake preparedness drill Thursday.

    Dubbed the "Great ShakeOut," homeowners, schoolchildren and office workers across the West and Southeast will practice dropping to the ground, covering their heads and holding on to something sturdy — a technique that experts say minimizes injuries during strong shaking. Residents in British Columbia, Italy, Puerto Rico and Guam also signed up for the exercise.

    Organizers estimated some 14 million people, including 9.3 million in California, will participate. Newcomers include Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, where a magnitude-5.8 hit last year that was felt along the East Coast.

    In Los Angeles, commuters at Union Station will be asked to duck and take cover. Subways and light-rail trains will slow down so that operators can visually inspect the tracks — a process that's expected to take 15 minutes. In an actual quake, trains can be stopped. Transportation officials also planned to show the public tips to safely evacuate a train.

    Southern California held the first safety drill in 2008 based on a fictional magnitude-7.8 event on the southern San Andreas Fault. The entire state participated the following year and the exercise has since spread around the world.

    "It's not looking at earthquakes as doom and gloom," said organizer Mark Benthien. "It's all about what we're going to do as a community to be prepared so that when there's an earthquake, we'll get back on our feet and recover."

    Southern California has not experienced a seismic disaster since the 1994 Northridge quake, which killed 72 people and caused $25 billion in damage to the Los Angeles region.

    ___

    Online:

    http://www.shakeout.org/

    Loading...

    More Science News

     

    News for You »

    • Boyfriend espaces out window as husband confronts cheating wife [VIDEO]

      As part of perhaps the most spectacular walk-of-shame ever, an underwear-clad lover escaped from a third floor bedroom as the returning husband confronted his cheating wife on a balcony.

    • Rescues, Grim Recoveries at Elementary School After the OK Tornado

      There's a reason that many eyes were on Plaza Towers Elementary as Moore, Oklahoma began to assess the damage from a deadly, devastating tornado that blasted through the town Monday evening and killed at least 51 people: the school was leveled, with dozens of children still inside. And so far, some of the most emotionally charged news has emerged from the story unfolding there. 

    • Kids rescued from rubble at Okla. elementary

      MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Several children have been pulled out of the rubble alive at a school in an Oklahoma City suburb.

    • Utah man, brother suspects in wife's disappearance

      WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) — Newly released police records show that Utah officials believe Josh Powell likely killed his wife and that his brother, Michael Powell, helped dispose of the body, but authorities felt they didn't have enough evidence to prove that theory in court.

    • BREAKING: Subway Just as Unhealthy as McDonald’s!

      If you watched the London Olympics last summer, you saw a parade of top athletes touting the nutritional qualities of their favorite eatery: Subway. Watching Apolo Ohno or Robert Griffin III bite into a veggie footlong with avocado or hearing that Subway is “the official training restaurant of athletes everywhere,” you might get the idea that the food served at the chain isn’t that bad for you—that it’s even healthy.

    • Why We Can't Forget That Oklahoma's Senators Voted Against Sandy Relief

      Nearly four months ago, Oklahoma Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe both voted against H.R.152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act that eventually sent $50.5 billion in relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. And in the flurry of last night's devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. it was impossible not to forget that fact, knowing the federal government would soon rally to the cause.

    • Frantic search for two dozen missing children in Oklahoma tornado

      (Reuters) - Rescue workers searched the rubble of a school in Moore, Oklahoma, on Monday to find some two dozen missing children following a huge tornado that leveled part of the town, Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb said. In an interview on CNN, Lamb said rescue workers rushed in fading light to try to find the children at the school, which took a direct hit from a tornado packing winds of up to 200 miles per hour. At least 51 people have been confirmed dead in the tornado, which struck at midafternoon Monday. (Reporting by Greg McCune; Editing by Bill Trott)

    • 10 gut-wrenching images from the devastating Oklahoma tornado

      Entire neighborhoods and two elementary schools were obliterated

    Show More
    Loading...

    Follow Yahoo! News