Here in earthquake country, we often have “plans” set aside about what we’d do in case of an earthquake: Flashlight? Check. Bottled water? Check. Hard-soled shoes beside the bed? Check.
But what I often think about is what I’m wearing to bed.
Californians – am I alone here?
I often go to bed in … well, I can’t even tell you what I go to bed in. Let’s just say it wouldn’t look very good out on the sidewalk come a good 7.2 on the Richter scale. …
But the stranger thing, perhaps, is that this actually goes through my mind every night.
Am I alone in this?
Aaargh! It never occurred to me–but it will now!
Sort of like hurricane preparations here in Florida — but you get NO advance notice. I honestly don’t know which is worse.! We’re told to keep canned food that doesn’t need electricity to eat, water in bottles, a manual can opener, cash in case the ATMs weren’t working, extra prescription medication, etc. We keep Sterno onhand all year, not because we need to, but because it stays forever. You can use it to heat and boil water if you need to — instant coffee, tea, ramen noodles. It feels sort of like camping! I thought it was interesting that a recent request from charities here in Florida was for camping tents for people in Haiti. People are nervous about going back in their houses because of aftershocks and the tents give them shelter outside where they feel safer.
Another really important thing is to have a designated family member that you’d get in touch with who is out of ‘harms way’ so you can let all of those concerned know you’re ok. Like your Aunt Rita in Ohio or me here in FL. That’s a selfish thing on my part, because your most immediate concerns would certainly be your family and their care and feeding. But lots of us would worry if a big quake happened there.
Oh, that’s just not fun to think about!!