Without warning, the ground beneath your feet begins to shake. Light fixtures swing, items slide off shelves, and the house creaks and groans. You jump under a table, cover your head, and hang onto a table leg for dear life.
In a matter of seconds, the shaking has stopped. The house is a mess, but it's eerily still and quiet.
You know there will be aftershocks, so you head out quickly with your family, stopping by the back door for your survival kit.
Everyone meets outside in the designated spot. They're all calm but shaken – but best of all, they're all accounted for and uninjured.
An earthquake can strike anytime and anywhere. Although some areas have more seismic activity than others, anywhere on the planet there can be a shift in the tectonic plates, as recent earthquake activity on the American east coast has shown.
There are about one million earthquakes around the world each year. Most are too small to be felt. Many are nothing more than a few seconds of light shaking and then they're over.
According to the US Geological Survey, each year there is an average of 17 large earthquakes that measure 7.0 to 7.9. Each year there's one 'great quake' of over 8.0. These large quakes can be catastrophic.
The USGS says that large-scale earthquakes are on an upward trend.
While the number of yearly earthquakes hasn't changed significantly over the last century, the last ten years have seen a sharp increase in quakes of over 5.0.
In 2000, the USGS reported 1,500 large earthquakes. In 2009, the number was over 2,000.
Few people die during an actual earthquake, but the aftereffects of the shaking can be deadly.
Bridges can collapse, power lines can come down, and large debris from buildings can fall. Gas mains break causing explosions and fires. An earthquake can touch off landslides or tsunamis.
In countries where the infrastructure is poor, the death count is high. But even in a modern country with full-scale rescue operations and communications, a major earthquake can be deadly.
Japan's Great Tohoku Earthquake of 2011 unleashed a massive tsunami that killed over 15,000 people and left more than 3,000 missing, and also touched off the world's second-largest nuclear disaster. Nowhere on earth is completely safe from earthquakes.
You can survive a massive earthquake and most people do. The way to survive is to be prepared.
You can't predict when an earthquake can strike, but if you're always ready for it, you can mitigate the damage it does to you, your home and your family.
In this book you'll learn how to prepare for an earthquake. You'll learn exactly what to do when it hits and how to get your family to safety. You'll also learn how to recover and get your life back to normal.
