Organisations Newsletter 1: Spreading the Word

Thank you and congratulations on registering to take part in ShakeOut, the biggest earthquake drill ever to be held on the West Coast, and perhaps New Zealand. By being part of the drill you are demonstrating your commitment to the safety and well-being of your employees and also helping to get the message out that we live in earthquake territory and need to take account of that in the way we live our lives.

As a teacher it is difficult to tell businesses about how they should prepare for a major earthquake. Instead I will deal with some of the central issues regarding earthquakes and raise questions about the more specific things thar should be considered.

This is the first of four e-mails prior to the ShakeOut and the topic for today is

SPREADING THE WORD

ShakeOut is a very low budget scheme that has been made possible only with the support of the Southern California Earthquake Center and the Earthquake Country Alliance as well as our own district and regional councils. The system is exactly the same as the one used in California in 2008 and it attracted over 5.5 million participants ... more than are registered to vote. Most Californians have lived through a major earthquake and so the risk is well understood. Buller has had it's fair share of earthquakes, but further south we have been spared significant shaking, despite what some would say about the effects of the Buller events.

The challenge for ShakeOut is to get people to understand the need for planning and preparation, and registering on the site will hopefully be a start to that process. You can help with this by putting pressure on staff to register as individuals/families. They will then have access to specific information about what they need to do to be prepared. This would be much appreciated.

There are two messages that I am trying to promote:

1. The need for preparation is based on good science, and the basis of this is easily understood by most. We should not be surprised if we get a major earthquake on the alpine fault in the near future (although shock is inevitable).

2. The vast majority of the population will survive even a great earthquake if they have secure homes and workplaces and have taken steps to prepare for several days without support of any kind. Some will be in the wrong place and will be killed, but most will not. The risks here are not incomparable with getting into a car, and should not scare us into 'head in the sand' mode.

Businesses and other organisations need to have emergency plans in place, but perhaps an additional step is to encourage a prepared workforce.

Good luck with your planning for the ShakeOut.

Chris Manuel
West Coast ShakeOut Coordinator
www.shakeout.org.nz

The information in this e-mail is the opinion of the author, after significant research. If you are making decisions based upon it, please take the time to follow the links and check up on the details that will affect your decision.