My Family Earthquake Safety Plan

Some things to pay attention to and not to do during an earthquake are:
- Don't stand next to the edge of a building, edges tend to collapse first.
- Try to stand in the top floor of building; that way, if the floors start falling you'll be on top.
- Don't go outside unless you're in a big empty space- out on the street you can get hit by cars affected by the earthquake, have buildings collapse on you, and have many things fall on you and hurt you.
- Try to stand somewhere where you're protected- such as under a bed, under a desk, or under doors- these are very firmly attached to the building.
- Avoid places where you might get objects falling on top of you, such as bookshelves, other shelves, places with paintings on the walls, underneath a clock, underneath the curtains, ext.
- Always try to protect your head with your hands, wherever you are.- If you're outside, lie down on the ground away from buildings.
- If you're in your car, drive away from bridges, buildings, power lines, and tall trees, and stay in your car. - After the earthquake is over, drive very carefully, as roads may be damaged from the earthquake.
- Stay away from electricity, since lines could be broken.

After finding all of this information, I made a family escape route in the case of an earthquake coming in the night.

Robert and Oscar:
Robert goes to Oscar's bed, which is right underneath his. The bed is securely fastened to the wall, and they have protection from robert bed above. Also, there is no framework on Oscar's wall, only posters of soccer players :) When Robert and Oscar evacuate the building, they would either take the normal house entrance outside, or if it’s locked they could go out on the terrace and take the stairs outside.

Mom and Dad:
Both my parents go underneath their bed, which is quite sturdy. This will keep them safe from all the stuff that's hanging on the walls and the bookshelves, and they would be lying down. When they evacuate they would take the back door next to the kitchen outside.

Me:
I would either go underneath my desk, which is quite sturdy, or I would stand underneath the doorway, which is about half a meter wide. Perhaps my desk wouldn't be such a good idea because of all the electronic stuff attached to the wall, so maybe the doorway would be a better idea. When I have the chance to evacuate the building, I would jump out of my window and get out of the house.

Below is a sketch of my room I drew, and in black you can see my furniture and exits, while in green you can see all the dangerous areas who wouldn't be safe to stand in during an earthquake.

In the case of an earthquake, it is always good to have an earthquake safety kit. Every family member should have their own. These are the main things that should be part of your safety kit:

- Whistle

- first aid kit with basic supplies including bandages, splint, gauze, hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls, analgesics and any essential medications

- blanket

- canned food and can opener – this should last for you for three days

- WATER!!! Very important!

- Extra warm clothes

- A little cash, just in case

- Flashlight and extra flashlight batteries

- Knife, duct tape, screwdriver, scissors, bandages, and other tools

- Personal documents

These are some of the issues in my family and in our house that may be a problem if we are hit by an earthquake:

1. It is too far to jump outside from any windows, except for mine. You have to use the two doors to get outside or go outside using the terrace leading to the garden.

2. My house is cluttered with paintings, pictures, and shelves on the walls. We also have three huge bookshelves in the living rooms, with books stacked in everywhere. This wouldn’t be very earthquake safe.

3. We have a lot of glass lights on the ceilings, which could very easily fall down. (I say this with experience, we threw a tennis ball at it and it rocketed back and forth for like forever )