Here on earth, we are going to get some earthquakes. But when they come, we might have to ask ourselves: what should I do? Am I prepared? Will the roof over my head collapse?
Here we have some opinions from teachers at WAHS and whether they think we are safe and ready for when we get into a real earthquake.
Spanish teacher Ken Bieser said that WAHS was built sometime in or around the 50’s so he does not think our building would be able to hold during an earthquake.
“My understanding is that West, the part of West Albany that we are currently in, was built in the early to mid 50’s, so probably not,” Bieser said after being asked if he thinks the buildings we have now would be able to withstand an earthquake.
There are a lot of different earthquakes, and one way to describe how bad an earthquake is, is to use numbers out of ten and see if we are prepared. “I would like to think we are prepared. It depends on how big the earthquake is,” Bieser said, “anything above a seven, I don’t think you can be prepared for, but I think people would know what to do.”
Bieser explains that we might be prepared for an earthquake, but we might not be prepared for the destruction afterwards.
“It would all just depend on what actually happened to our buildings. Like the giant earthquake that they had in San Francisco sometime around the 20s,” Bieser said. “ The earthquake wasn’t necessarily the big issue. It was all the fires that came afterwards.”
Science teacher Lucas Risinger explains that he doesn’t really think anyone in the state is truly prepared for an earthquake but to just try to prepare.
“As much as we can, prepare with things like learning how to get under the desk and where to meet after.” Risinger said. As a science teacher, Risinger knows a lot about earthquakes and can give some good advice about what to do.
“I think every individual family should ensure that their house is adequately prepared, and that means making sure that the house is stable on the foundation,” Risinger said. “Making sure that your family has enough food and water to last a few days, having things like emergency toilets, emergency gas and gas shut offs, those types of things.” Risinger said these are ways to help us be more prepared at home if we are in a big earthquake.
“I would have someone look into the safety of the walk and make sure that there’s no power lines that could go down and get in our way, Risinger said. “ I would make sure that the gas has auto shut off; having a reserve of clean water and food would be the biggest ways to be prepared.” These are ways to be prepared at school if you’re in an earthquake that could do some pretty bad damage.
Risinger wasn’t sure what the most magnitude earthquake was still considered safe.
“I don’t know,” Risinger said. “I think it depends on the building and location.”
Assistant principal Sean Saxton has an interest in earthquakes, and when asked if he thinks the buildings we have can withstand an earthquake above a four or five, he said they can.
“Four or five? Sure,” Saxton said. “That’s not a particularly big earthquake, so it’s not really that impressive.”
Talking about being prepared for a big earthquake is important. Looking closer into how prepared Saxton thinks we are, he said he doesn’t think we are super prepared.
“Honestly, I don’t think the state as a whole, or even the Pacific Northwest Is prepared for a truly devastating earthquake,” Saxton said. “A big earthquake would last several minutes, and that’s a lot of shaking.”
If you’re ever in an earthquake, the best thing to do is know what to do. If we were to get into a big earthquake, the building would have high chances of actually coming down.
“You would definitely want to stay away from anything that isn’t bolted to the wall, like refrigerators, desks,” Saxton said. “The place to be would be under the desk, because they’re going to move a lot.”
During an actual earthquake, the panic could make it hard to focus on what to do, so one thing you should not do is try to run for the exit.
“You definitely want to be off your feet, because if you’re not it would probably throw you off your feet,” said Saxton. “Don’t try to run for the exit or anything, because the exit will be moving when you get there, and that is going to make it hard to safely get through the door.”
Saxton said that ducking and covering is mostly all you can do during an earthquake. One thing he said we can probably work on better is planning.
“There’s not a whole lot other than ducking and covering you can do in an earthquake that big,” said Saxton. “The real thing we could do to get better to prepare is planning.”
We might not be ready for a really big earthquake, but the best we can do is duck, cover, and work on some more planning. Set aside some fresh food and water, and apply seismic retrofitting to your house if it doesn’t have any.
