Earthquake Strategies

Today in our office meeting, my boss told us that we needed to come up with an evacuation/strategy plan for if we were to experience a major earthquake while we are in the office. I sit outside the conference room during our meetings so I can answer the phone, but he said my name so I stood in the doorway and listened as they plotted out how they would leap from the windows and run out the door in four seconds flat.

The main topic of discussion was how to contact their families, since they all have wives and children who would, of course, be wondering about them. And I'd imagine that if something drastic were to happen, they would all want to get to their families as quickly as possible. I-15 would be a parking lot, and so there was some talk about taking railroad tracks and such down to Payson and Spanish Fork where the majority of them live.

Since Kevin included me when he said that we should know what we are doing, I thought of what I would need to do. Since I wouldn't really have anyone that I would be desperate to seek out (i.e. husband, children, etc.) I imagined all sorts of leisurely time while the rest of my world would be surrounded with chaos, panic, and a sense of urgency. In theory, if I were left unharmed, I could start walking back towards my apartment and maybe stop to administer my rudimentary first aid to any of those who had been hurt.

Kevin said that it was proven that though phone calls during catastrophe don't always go through, but text messages do; so I imagine that I would shoot off a quick text to my parents who would be tucked safely away in Ohio and would probably be wondering about me (if they had heard on the news what happened) and then... I guess I would want to know what happened to the few possessions I have at my apartment. If my car were crushed by trees, I only live some 2.5 miles away from work, so I could walk that easily enough -- provided there weren't some gaping hole or crack formed from the earthquake.

So what do I need to do if there is a giant earthquake in Utah? I suppose I ought to just survive it. And then... nothing.

Maybe I will get some water bottles and put them in my car, so I have access to those at least.