The recent magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck Japan have made a lot of Americans thinking: Is Los Angeles ready for a strong quake?...
Read more …The recent magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck Japan have made a lot of Americans thinking: Is Los Angeles ready for a strong quake?
Last year, Los Angeles suffered a 4.4 magnitude quake and luckily there were no major damages or injuries reported.
According to the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Americans are grossly unprepared for the next disaster. Haresh C. Shah, professor of civil engineering at Stanford, and associates at Risk Management Solutions Inc. (RMS) of Menlo Park estimates that a worse case scenario magnitude 7.0 temblor on the Newport-Inglewood fault could result in a shocking 3,000 to 8,000 deaths, 11,000 to 20,000 hospitalizations, and a total economic loss of $175 billion to $220 billion.
However, for the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) the city of Los Angeles has a sound plan and they train frequently according to the plan. The LAFD hosts a number of simulations, drills and rallies to prepare citizens for a large-scale earthquake. During the last two decades, the LAFD, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has helped organize a system of regional Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Task Forces that are available for mobilization anywhere within the United States. Nationwide, there are 28 of these elite teams and have two of them in Los Angeles County.
These teams are comprised of specially trained and equipped local firefighters and paramedics, other certified responders, rescue specialists, emergency room physicians, structural engineers, heavy equipment operators, canine search dogs and handlers, hazardous materials technicians, communications technicians, and logistic experts.
Photo: LAFD News & Information
