Earthquakes and LAFD

On July 29 L.A experienced a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. This is classified as "moderate" with slight damage to buildings by the USGS. Fortunately the L.A. Fire Department is a national leader in disaster response and preparedness.

• The LAFD has published an excellent Emergency Preparedness manual (PDF).
  
• In 1985 the LAFD began a program of Citizen Emergency Response Teams (CERT) to provide citizens with basic training in disaster survival and rescue skills to improve the ability to survive until responders or other assistance could arrive. In 1994 the CERT program was made national under the guidance of the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) of FEMA. My wife and I are CERT members in NY and recommend it highly.
  
• The early '80s also saw the creation of the Incident Command Structure (ICS), born from the need to coordinate local, state and federal rescue agencies during California forest fires. Today ICS is the FEMA approved organization plan for all emergency response.

Bottom Line: Preparation prevents Panic. An informed and trained public can play a positive role in emergency response. I'll close with some L.A. earthquake humor. Erin at TopShelf has created an L.A. scale for measuring earthquakes. For example:

5.0 is a Hug-a-Tourist. That's when a perfect stranger in the mall grabs you and hangs on for dear life and you know they're from out of town.
5.5 is a Ceiling Check, all the natives and people who've been here for twenty years or more will look up at the nearest door, just to make sure they know where it is.

See the complete list at http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog-entry/8580/counting-seismologists-or-earthquake-terminology-101#new