Showing posts with label emergency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emergency. Show all posts

Friday, February 22, 2008

Earthquake Aftermath

Fox reports on the situation in Wells, Nevada following a 6.0 earthquake:



Unlike what we have seen from some other state websites, there is still very little information on Nevada.gov other than this announcement that the Governor will visit the area (that was 12:30 yesterday) - no followup about that visit or what citizens can expect. This is not a good example of how to provide information through the state portal. New maps detailing the impact of the quake are available on USGS. The quake was felt by those who were in the building I am in at the time. Hundreds of people reported feeling the quake in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas. You can see from this map that this area of Nevada does not have much history of earthquakes. So, having a 6+ quake here is pretty significant. Some pretty good information on this quake and previous quakes in Nevada, including A Nevadan's Guide to Earthquake Preparedness is found at the Nevada Seismological Lab. As of the moment, however, the Nevada Emergency Management website says nothing about this event.

Utah is in a much more active earthquake zone. According to the Utah Seismic Safety Commission,
90% of Utah's population lives in active earthquake zones. If a 7.5 Richter Magnitude quake were to occur in the Salt Lake City area, it is projected that 7600 people would die and approximately $18 - billion would be lost to physical damage and loss of jobs and economic activity.
The Strategic Plan for Earthquake Safety in Utah was produced in 1995.

Looking at history, it's a matter of time 'til a big one hits here.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Safe and Well List

In order to be effective, the American Red Cross Safe and Well List needs more coverage. During the last 24 hours, there have been 750 registrations. According to the media, there have been about 500,000 evacuees. If it was recognized more widely, everyone could go here to find information about people they know that are endangered. It would also be nice if you could not only search the service online, but also be notified by email when the person you were searching for is later added to the list.