Good Day Everyone,

Have you ever thought about being mentally prepared for an earthquake? Most people aren't ready in regard to post-earthquake recovery. A good comparison to the impact these events have on an individual is the 9/11 event in New York City.

We learned of individuals who worked in police and fire services where fathers and sons perished and an instant a void was left in the lives of their family, friends and co-workers. This event just like earthquakes happened so fast and for most so unexpected they didn't know how to comprehend what happened, let alone adjust to changing circumstances.

I have a friend who had a nervous breakdown after Loma Prieta and it was not a huge earthquake. But some who are more fragile than others may not ever recover. We learned more about this aspect of recovery as a result of the 9.3 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia last year. If we comprehend that every person is connected to a minimum of ten people, the impact a major earthquake is extensive. Using the number of lost from this earthquake at 200,000 it means two million people were grieving for the loss of someone. The impact of the loss of individuals from the World Trade Center terrorist attack touched almost every community in the United States.

Two types of events can change how people mentally prepare for earthquakes. First, moderate earthquakes in a region will cause them to think it might be possible for a larger earthquake to occur and earthquake prediction(s). Even if a prediction was a failure, such as what happened with Vladimir Keilis-Borok's predicted 6.4> southern, California event it set the mental wheels in motion to prepare for the possibility it could occur. Intermediate or long term probabilities seem just as facts and figures and have no impact at all on people preparing for an earthquake in the here and now.

I am positive if a 7.0 earthquake hit in Los Angeles as an example, our Internet family would be impacted in some way as a result of someone who was injured, perished, suffered a loss of someone close to them, lost their job because their workplace was destroyed or lost their place of residence.

Earthquakes can tear a hole in the fabric of our lives and we need to prepare ourselves for the worst of what can happen and understand we are all connected.

Petra

Suggested Reading: Healing Journeys by Linda Daniels. New Horizons Press 2004.