Are We Learning from Japan?

I have watched with sadness and concern the recent events in Haiti, Chile, New Zealand, and now Japan as these countries have dealt with devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. The pictures coming out of Japan have been particularly disturbing and have caused me to re-evaluate what we are doing as a family to prepare for potential earthquakes in our own state of Utah.

I read with interest an article by Malcolm Foster (AP) as the news broke concerning Japan's quake yesterday. We've all heard (and hopefully we've done something about it) that we should tie down our water heaters to prevent fires following an earthquake. But in Japan fires started for a number of reasons I hadn't really thought about. Cars were tipped over or crushed causing gas and oil to leak. Gas lines broke and not just those connecting to water heaters. Are there other things we should be thinking about besides securing our water heaters? Certainly our firefighters will be too busy dealing with fires to also deal with the other issues. Are we prepared to carry out search and rescue efforts on our own? Can we serve as providers of first aid?

Foster reported that critical roads and bridges buckled, collapsed or were covered with debris. By nightfall after the quake, the streets were jammed with cars, buses, and trucks trying to get around or out of the city. Are we prepared to shelter in place? Are we prepared to evacuate if necessary without the use of our cars and roads?

It's winter in Japan. Immediately after the quake power was out to over 14 million homes. Some could not get to their homes because the power outages meant elevators didn't work. Others lost their homes to flooding or collapse. One survivor stood in the street with an elderly parent. They couldn't get to their apartment on the 29th floor. She was quoted: "We are so cold. We really don't know what to do." And this is Japan, one of the most prepared and experienced nations when it comes to earthquakes. Have we thought about what we'd do for shelter and heat if our homes were not available? Or if power and natural gas were not an option?

Phone service was non-existent with both landlines and cell phones. This makes it difficult to know the welfare of family members who were not at home and likely scattered at school or work at the time of the quake at 2:45 p.m. Do you have a plan to communicate with family members if the phones are out?

We are probably not looking at damage from a tsunami here, but we live downstream from Deer Creek Reservoir and most of Provo lies in a flood plain should the dam fail. What are the implications of that for our families?

I don't intend to create fear by posing these questions, but we have a wonderful opportunity to learn. We need to be doing something today to put that learning into action.