In 1994 I was single and living in a studio apartment in Santa Monica when the Northridge Earthquake hit. Santa Monica got hit pretty hard considering its distance from Northridge, many houses came off their foundations and one apartment building two blocks from me had a gas leak and explosion minutes after the earthquake struck. (Thankfully due to the MLK holiday, none of the tenants were home at the time.)
And how well prepared was I for the earthquake? I had one small maglight flashlight IN MY CAR. That’s it. So in the pitch dark — and you know what I mean by how dark it was at 4:30 in the morning with a lot of power out throughout the city — I found shoes and went to my car to get the flashlight. After that day I was only slightly better prepared: I kept water in my car and bought many more flashlights to keep around the apartments I lived in.
Since we got married 8 years ago, my husband and I have been keeping a fairly decent earthquake kit in our easy to get to storage area and after all the recent shaking we pulled it all out and refreshed it. The photo above is of the supply box and the small blue bin behind it has our foodstuffs. We wrote down a few more things we needed and I have been perusing Sean and Jason’s Urban Journal website for additional ideas.
I would love for you all to share things you have your kits, items you have in your cars, what you keep by your bedside. I would love recommendations on hand crank/solar flashlights and radios. Tell me what oddball things you keep in those boxes, just in case.
Click through the jump to see photos from Santa Monica damage in 94 as well as a sample of our foodstuffs and a more complete list of things in our supply box.
Or Westlake Village. Or Thousand Oaks. Take your pick. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake, which occured at 6:11 p.m. local time, preliminarily measures 4.4, a number that will likely change slightly after review by USGS seismologists. Here is a USGS map of where the quake struck. Strangely, USGS always locates earthquakes by their proximity in four directions to nearby cities and towns, instead of just pinpointing exactly the area where the quakes hit. A local and apparently jaded friend of mine calls these less-than-catastrophic quakes “massages,” but since they unsettle my balance and/or my gut, I don’t take them so lightly.
I’m on the Southeast coast of Florida, that well-known stretch between Miami and Palm Beach. Therefore, it’s time for another installment of East Coast vs. West Coast. This area of the East Coast was my second choice of home location after the West Side and South Bay beach towns near Los Angeles. So while I’m here visiting the runner-up location, I want to see if I made the right decision. Here’s how I evaluate it:
It’s fair to say that after reading Emergency I’ve been looking at things a little different and considering a bunch of “what if” situations. One thing that stuck with me was the repeated assurances by rescue workers and authorities that when things go wrong most likely they will NOT be there to take care of you. I’ve actually heard this before first hand but the book was a good reminder.
Because of that I thought it would be worth it to look into LA’s Community Emergency Response Team and see about their free training. Turns out I wasn’t the only one looking and starting in May I and several of the authors here are going to be taking their 7 week course and getting our CERT certification. We talk a lot about being prepared for earthquakes and disasters on this site but that usually ends with lists of things you should have in a kit at your house. I’m thinking actual hands on training for these situations will be much more useful.
If you’d like to join us, we’re taking the classes in Silver Lake that start 5/5, however if there are classes closer to you I’d recommend those instead, you know, because of the whole “community” part of it. Plus, those green vests are just dope.
Earlier this month Jasonwas talking about LA Author Neil Strauss’ new book Emergency, which is basically an instruction manual for survival should society fall apart around you due to political, economic, or natural disaster. While writing it, one of the people Neil learned from (and featured in the book as well) is Kevin Reeve from On Point Tactical, a New Jersey based scout, tracking, and survival school. The book talks about their Urban Escape and Evasion class and last weekend a few of us were lucky enough to take that course right here in Los Angeles.
More about the course after the jump, but here’s a quick (and shaky, sorry!) video that I shot of Kevin showing off one of the things we learned in the class -making lock picks out of paperclips and safety pins!
I’m thrilled to join the madcap Los Angeles Metblogs team and hope you will relate to whatever it is I decide to contribute each week. My posts will likely be about shopping around Los Angeles, things chicks might like, innocent gossip and tips on the best bars to pick up the dudes (please let me know if you have any leads). Maybe I’ll even drop some names of people you don’t know and drop some mad cash in your store – so look out! I’m a coming!
(Photo courtesy of Courtenay Gasking)
On the personal side, I moved to Los Angeles from Atlanta in 2003 where I received a B.A. in Communications from Oglethorpe University. I’m left handed, have a motorcycle license and enjoy vintage clothes, good scotch and bad poker players sitting on the other side of the table.
Thanks for having me. If you want to keep up with the mundane goings on in my life, I invite you to follow me on twitter.
BREAKING: According to the U.S. Geological Survey, an earthquake measuring 3.4 on the good old Richter scale struck Venice about an hour ago. That’s weird. It was a mile away from me, and I didn’t feel a thing. However, two friends on the other side of the earthquake in Santa Monica told me that they felt it, short and sharp, and that the dogs were spooked for ten minutes. Can earthquakes just point North?
I Will, I Will Mock You Verdell Wilson OK, igetrad. You win. No contest. igetrad red line a few years back. saw a dude with his shirt pulled up under his chin furiously picking away at scabs... girlvaughn Flossing. seriously. So disgusting. Also – agree with nail clippers. The sound of it makes me gag.
In 1994 I was single and living in a studio apartment in Santa Monica when the Northridge Earthquake hit. Santa Monica got hit pretty hard considering its distance from Northridge, many houses came off their foundations and one apartment building two blocks from me had a gas leak and explosion minutes after the earthquake struck. (Thankfully due to the MLK holiday, none of the tenants were home at the time.)
I’m on the Southeast coast of Florida, that well-known stretch between Miami and Palm Beach. Therefore, it’s time for another installment of East Coast vs. West Coast. This area of the East Coast was my second choice of home location after the West Side and South Bay beach towns near Los Angeles. So while I’m here visiting the runner-up location, I want to see if I made the right decision. Here’s how I evaluate it:
Because of that I thought it would be worth it to look into LA’s 
