Prepare for a Fire or Earthquake Emergency

You will probably save money and have exactly the stuff you really use if you prepare an Emergency To Go Bag yourself. Many items can be found at local pharmacies, hardware, groceries, and sporting goods stores.

OK, Let’s Prepare the Basics

• Water – there’s NOTHING more important! You’ll need one gallon of water per person, per day. And you should plan for at least three days. So if there are 5 people in your family, that’s 5 gallons of water per day for three days, equaling 15 gallon of water at the ready!
• Food. Choose something nonperishable that’s easy to store and carry, like canned goods or freeze-dried food. Remember a can opener!
• Flashlight – remember extra batteries!
• Battery-powered or hand-crank radio – NOAA Weather is best.
• First aid kit – Red Cross recommended kit contents
• Medications – any prescription drugs you or your family need to live, plus over-the-counter items you use like aspirin or allergy meds. Remember an extra pair of glasses if you wear corrective lenses!
• Multi-purpose tool and duct tape
• Sanitation and personal hygiene items – Remember a roll of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, feminine products
• Copies of personal documents – birth certificate, Social Security card, driver’s license, deed/lease to home, passports, insurance policies plus list of medications. Put all of these in a plastic ziplock bag. If you have the means, scan all important documents and store in one of your cloud accounts. Be sure to have ID and Password to your Cloud account written down.
• Your backup hard drive or laptop
• Cell phone with chargers, but prepare to deal without them, too.
• Family and emergency contact information – and keep this not only in your mobile phone, but in a separate book. If you have no ability to charge a dead mobile phone, you’ll need those contacts written down and accessible.
• Cash – if there are widespread power outages, ATMs don’t work, and stores won’t be able to process debit and credit cards. In a widespread emergency, cash is still king! Jewelry that could be traded in desperation might also be handy.
• Emergency blanket – light-weight foil blankets are easiest to pack and carry
• Map(s) of the area. Drop by the AAA store near Staples to get some.
• Masks for COVID protection.

3 Kits Are Better Than 1

Everyone needs a survival kit. In California, families need to be prepared for wildfire and earthquake emergencies in particular. It’s a good idea to not only pack an emergency kit that you keep at home, but to have one at work, and one in your car.

Do NOT store near your chimney, swimming pool, large trees, or anything else that might fall down in an earthquake or wet supplies in heavy rain. A jam packed garage is also not the best place. In a small place, you may want to disguise your kit as a coffee table or footrest.

Prepare for your Babies and Kids

You know best what your children might really need, so prepare to have duplicates in their To Go bags. Ideas here from the CDC.

You may want to write your name and cell phone number with indelible ink on your child, should you become separated, and they be unable to give a responder that information. Same thing can be done on large pets with spray paint.

Remember to Prepare for Your Pets.

• WATER!
• Collar
• Leash
• ID/License
• Food
• Carrier
• Bowl

Where to Flee

This is where things get interesting. You really must prepare your escape routes ahead of time, depending on if you might be at home, work or school.

If the East Hills are on fire, go west, toward Mountain View, on 237. But in an earthquake or flood, the Coyote Creek could be flooded or the area around it liquified, and unpassable.

680 north has slides and faults going under it. Know those dips near where Mission Blvd. goes under the freeway and your coffee spills? Land gives way there continuously, and during a big quake, that section will give way.

880 has major overpasses that could give way. It is closest to the Bay so could liquify going north. In the ’85 quake, large sections disappeared up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Wouldn’t want to be up there in fire season either.

Now Piedmont Road, up against the hills, can get you pretty far south without any bridges. And eventually you could get on 101 South. But Anderson Reservoir dam could give way and flood 101.

As our major source of earthquakes is the Calaveras Fault, you do not want to try to escape an earthquake here by going up in the hills via Calaveras Blvd. Epicenter is often at the Calaveras Reservoir. Fires and landslides, too, are more likely in the hills than down in the valley. That’s a pretty tough drive even in the best of times.

If you are in the middle of town, take Abel St. south and continue south on Oakland Road. Or Milpitas Blvd. north to Warm Springs into Fremont, depending on source of danger.

So, my recommendation: after an earthquake, if your home is safe, plan to stay put in your home or yard, or tent in a City Park until help comes.