'It's not a matter of if': First responders discuss prep for the next 'big one'

Oct. 18—In an emergency, seconds matter.

That was the message the California Office of Emergency Services was in Bakersfield to deliver Tuesday, as part of a dayslong statewide tour ahead of the Great California ShakeOut.

Started in Los Angeles in 2004, the annual event at 10:20 a.m. on Oct. 20 this year is international in scope. (It's always planned for the third Thursday in October, with time matching the date.) The earthquake-awareness event is more than telling people about what to do when disaster strikes and how to prepare ahead of time.

CalOES also used the occasion to encourage visitors to Fire Station 1 on H Street Tuesday morning to download the MyShake app designed to give West Coast residents anywhere from 10 to 60 seconds before the next "big one" strikes and offered rides in a vehicle that simulates what a magnitude-7.0 earthquake is like.

"That was intense," said Brandon Barraza, who stopped by the firehouse with his fiancee, Beatriz Waldrop, to check out the demonstration CalOES had staged and took a "ride" in the quake simulator. "I'm not gonna lie — that was more than I expected it to be."

Waldrop walked away similarly shaken, with a renewed awareness for the importance of preparation, and what the next big one might feel like.

"It makes me think, 'If we get one of these, my whole apartment is going to get destroyed,'" she said, "and it makes me feel like, are we really ready for this — not only the individuals, but also the city?"

Bakersfield City Fire Chief John Frando said the department has protocols in place, like keeping vehicles at the ready after a minor tremor is felt, because no one knows if that's going to be a precursor to something more serious.

"Because it's not a matter of if it's going to happen, but when it's going to happen," he said.

Part of the outreach, he added, was encouraging city staff to stop by and check things out, too, because in an all-hands-on-deck emergency, many of them would likely be involved in the effort to help.

"They are going to be disaster workers, if we ever had an emergency like this," Frando said, "so bringing awareness within our own ... is important to us."

The more residents are prepared, Frando added, the easier it is for first responders to help out others who aren't able to have those types of precautions in place for whatever their circumstance might be.

The last time there was a significant one in Kern County, a magnitude-6.4 and a number of aftershocks, including a magnitude-7.1, shook an area in and around Ridgecrest and was the largest of its kind for Southern California in about 20 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"We didn't have any notice," said Brian Marshall, fire and rescue chief for CalOES, "and in the case of a sudden event, you have to react. You can't have any time lag in getting the resources on the road.

"When you have to rescue people out of a collapsed building," he added, "the timeframe for survivability is what you're working in and you have to have enough resources to rescue people before it's too late."

Making sure people understand that they should have an emergency "go" pack and what should be in it, is also part of a conversation that families should have, said Yvonne Dorantes, senior emergency services coordinator for CalOES.

The idea behind the app and outreach is that people have only moments to get ready to stop, drop and hold on, Dorantes added. But residents should have things like an evacuation plan in place ahead of time, because unlike wildfires or storms, those precious few seconds are the best one can hope for in terms of knowing when the next big one will shake.

"It'll just depend on the magnitude, it will depend on the epicenter, population size — a lot of factors come into play," she said of the app's efficacy. "But essentially, the seconds that you do get can be life-saving." MyShake uses a smartphone's sensors to detect earthquakes down to magnitude-5 within about 5 miles of its epicenter, according to the app's website, myshake.berkeley.edu.

"There are enough seconds for you to drop, cover and hold on, to bring your vehicle to a safe stop. Or to step away from any potential objects that can fall on you," she said, noting the last earthquake death in the state was the 2014 Napa earthquake. A 65-year-old grandmother was sleeping in a recliner when a television that wasn't secured fell on her, which ultimately caused an intracranial hemorrhage, according to an LA Times report.

"That family plan, that individual plan is crucial when it comes to planning for earthquakes," Dorantes added, "because again, you only have seconds to take action."