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Ramirez says the very definition of “earthquake prepared” needs to be examined.
“It is possible to be disaster prepared, meaning ready to respond and recover to a disaster generically, but the concept of being ‘EQ prepared’ implies that the earthquake will have less effect on you than your neighbor who is not ‘EQ prepared.’ This is simply not true at any level of quake. Prepare to respond, prepared to survive, prepare to recover, and prepare to move on,” he says. “That is disaster preparedness.”
IN PICTURES: Images from the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile
Los Angeles – California is well prepared to deal with an earthquake on par with the Chile earthquake on Saturday, but residents can do more to help themselves, disaster preparedness experts say.
Because it lies on the San Andreas fault, the tectonic boundary between the Pacific and the North American plates, California’s vulnerability to earthquakes has been well-documented since the late 1800s. Because building codes call for steel reinforcements – some tall buildings are even built on rolling foundations – the physical devastation to man-made structures that would happen here in a massive earthquake would be far less than Haiti or Chile.
Government response in California is also among the most sophisticated in the US, according to David Paulison, a head administrator for FEMA from 2005 to 2009.
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