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environment
CSULB
focuses on preparedness
By Ryan May
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
The longstanding
joke and accompanying myth that California will suffer a major
earthquake and break off into the ocean - much like the mythical
island of Atlantis - is just that: a myth, according to the
Southern California Earthquake Data Center.
Nevertheless, earthquakes and other natural disasters are
a threat to Californians and people living everywhere around
the world. Without a way to predict an earthquake, the
focus of coping with such a disaster is on preparedness.
Joe Rizkallah, an environmental health and safety specialist
with Safety and Risk Management at Cal State Long Beach, said
the campus is well-prepared should such a disaster occur.
“Our campus happens to be one of the premiere ones across
the nation with emergency response,” Rizkallah said.
“You won’t find another campus anywhere that has as many people
trained as we do.”
In the event of a major disaster, the university’s response
would take shape in an Emergency Operations Center.
The EOC provides for the centralized management of information
and decision-making.
The room is equipped with a variety of communication devices,
including emergency telephones, Long Beach Police and Fire
radio equipment, plant operations and public safety radio
equipment, scanners, televisions and radios.
The campus also has a mobile communication center that can
serve as the campus emergency center in the event that the
primary EOC is deemed unsafe or destroyed.
Locating key support staff in one centralized area has proven
to be a major factor in an effective and coordinated disaster
response, according to information on emergency preparedness
obtained through Safety and Risk Management.
There are currently more than 200 faults in Southern California
and therefore every destination is within 30 miles of a fault,
according to statistics from the Southern California Earthquake
Data Center.
Based on this fact and other probabilities, scientists at
the Southern California Earthquake Center predict a probability
of 85 percent that Southern California will experience an
earthquake with a magnitude 7.0 or greater within the next
30 years. Such a quake would contain 20 percent the
force of gravity.
An earthquake occurs when the Earth’s outer layers push the
sides of a fault together, comparable to the snapping of two
fingers, according to the SCEDC.
Before the snap occurs, the fingers are placed together and
sideways, held in place by friction. But when enough
pressure is allowed to build up, the two fingers move in a
sudden burst and release energy in the form of sound waves
that vibrate in the air and travel to the ear where the observer
hears a ‘snap.’
Much the same is true of earthquakes. Friction built
up along a fault holds the two sides together until enough
stress builds and they slip, releasing energy in waves that
travel through the ground and cause the shaking we feel.
When caught in an earthquake, the best thing to do is “duck,
cover and hold,” according to the SCEDC. If indoors,
lie on the floor next to an interior wall, protecting your
head with your arms. If outdoors, move into a clear
area, avoiding power lines, trees and buildings. If
driving, pull over, stop and set the parking break and stay
inside the vehicle until the shaking stops.
Collapsing walls, flying glass and falling objects cause most
injuries in an earthquake, according to the Federal Emergency
Management Agency. Of the 120 deaths caused by the 1993
earthquake in Long Beach, many occurred when people ran outside,
only to be struck by falling debris from collapsing walls.
Therefore, the safest place to be in an earthquake is indoors.
Should such an event occur on campus, all buildings would
be evacuated. The evacuation is performed as a drill once
every semester as part of an ongoing effort to prepare students
and faculty in case of a real threat. First initiated in 1992,
the drill has been polished, now lasting only 15 minutes,
according to Maryann Rozanski, director of Safety and Risk
Management.
“Once people are evacuated, should it not be a drill, the
building marshals would wait for word from campus police or
other emergency personnel that they could reenter the building,”
Rozanski said. “Barring that, no one goes back in.”
Under federal law, the campus also participates in the Community
Emergency Response Training program. Designed by the
Los Angeles Fire Department, CERT teaches volunteer students,
faculty and university employees learn to survive a disaster,
assist those around them and work as part of an emergency
response team. Rizkallah has trained over 670 CERT team
members in the past three and a half years.
The large number of CERT rescue workers is warranted considering
the size of the campus, covering 322 acres with 89 buildings.
Additionally, Rizkallah said a rescue worker could work for
only four to five hours before becoming fatigued and mentally
discouraged.
The average CERT rescue worker completes a ten-module program
consisting of 15 to 20 hours, Rizkallah said. At the
conclusion, all trainees go through a mass casualty drill
in which a classroom serves as a disaster scene with file
cabinets overturned on top of CPR dummies.
“A file cabinet full of paper weighs 300 or 400 pounds,” Rizkallah
said. “It’s hard to lift and you’re not really supposed
to lift it because you’ll tire yourself out as a rescuer.
So we teach them how to use levers and stuff and how to block
it up with just books and whatever else is in the room - sort
of McGuyverish.”
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