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I know many of you, if not most, have been witness to a disaster.
Perhaps it was much worse than the story below. The purpose of this
article is to suggest preparation is necessary and that it should
be as much a part of your life as washing your clothes.
Most people do not have a clue that we will, without question
or any reasonable doubt, have a near 8.0 earthquake in the next
100 years somewhere in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California or
the New Madrid fault along the Mississippi River. Based on several
articles I have read in the credible Science News magazine, my own
estimate, by adding up the odds, is that we have about a 30% chance
of having an earthquake or other disaster happening in our lifetimes.
A large quake or hurricane like Katrina is catastrophic if you are
in the wrong place and even more so if you are unprepared. As of
this writing, FEMA does not have a complete plan for an earthquake
disaster in California. The monetary toll from a large earthquake
will be the biggest in history and the effects will last for years,
if not a decade. There will very likely be desperate and violent
struggles for food and water in some areas.
Humboldt County, California, where C. Crane is located had three
sizeable earthquakes in 24 hours in 1992. The main shock was 7.1,
followed by a 6.6 and 6.7. In one hectic nightmare moment, broken
glass was everywhere, nobody had shoes on, it was pitch black and
the only flashlight found was as dim as they come. Guess how C.
Crane became involved with preparedness? I swore I would never be
unprepared again. The population in Humboldt County is only
35 people per square mile, but hundreds of homes were destroyed
or had major damage. Almost 100 people were injured. A rough estimate
of damage was 66 million dollars. Compare this unpopulated remote
area where we live with the population density of Los Angeles at
over 10,000 people per square mile. And these were
little bitty quakes compared to the real one that will come some day.
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