Earthquake: Words of Advice for Hollywood Celebrities

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There was a minor 3.6 earthquake in Los Angeles, California late yesterday and Hollywood celebrities went into a panic mode. Shaking from the earthquake could be felt in areas including Granada Hills, San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica, Marina del Rey, Los Feliz, the Hollywood Hills, and more.

Celebrities react to Los Angeles earthquake with confusion: 'I still don't know what to do'

Still, celebrities scattered throughout Hollywood were left confused about how to properly ensure their own safety as the hills around them moved.

"That just felt like....someone kicked my house?? weird earthquake," tweeted "The Good Place" star D'Arcy Carden.

So having lived through a major earthquake in California in the '70 I thought I would give a few words of advice:

1. In a major earthquake, it is impossible to move anywhere when the quake strikes. It is just a matter of holding on while the rest of the room sways violently back and forth. If you are able, try and position yourself underneath something strong like a strong heavy desk.

2. After a major earthquake, quickly relocate outside. A major earthquake is followed by thousands of aftershocks. If you stay inside a damages structure, the aftershocks which can also be very powerful can cause the structure to completely break apart and bury you.

3. First things first - turn off your gas lines. Most houses have natural gas lines that lead into the homes/business. These lines may rupture during the earthquake and it is best to immediately turn these off.

4. Avoid coming in contact with exposed electrical power lines. These may be hot, so just avoid them. Often in an earthquake, the power transforms may explodes, power lines may fall to the ground, wiring can be exposed. These can be very hazardous.

5. Become attuned to the sound of the earthquake. It has a very distinct almost subsonic sound, a growl. It will give you about 10 seconds of warning prior to the next aftershock.

6. A car parked away from anything that might possible fall onto of it, is perhaps the most safest area to be following a major earthquake. The rubber tires and car shocks dampen most of the vibration from aftershocks.

7. Don't clog up the system. In general, only use 911 emergency lines if you have a true emergency. People will tie up these lines with non-emergency type questions. For example, "Was that an earthquake?". "I want to order a pizza, but I can't get through". This will prevent individuals from being able to get through to 911. Gawkers will invade the streets looking to observe the damage. That is what gawkers will do. I was a little guilty myself. But many stoplights will be out and intersections will clog up as a result. It took me 1 hours to pass through a single intersection stoplight, 1 whole hour. The problem here is that the massive traffic jam prevents emergency personnel from going anywhere. They too will be locked in place. Eventually people left their cars and began directing traffic themselves and those people helped traffic to start moving again.

8. It is very challenging to drive during an aftershock. This is a function of speed. When you are out on an almost deserted highway (people staying home for the most part) and an aftershock hits, the road will move back and forth. Try not to overcompensate. You almost need to put blinders on and just keep from moving the steering wheel. If you steer in the direction of the road as it is moving, a second later the road is moving in the opposite direction, and before you realize it, you are driving off the road completely.

9. Be aware of highway underpasses when driving. Sometimes they have a tendency to collapse.

10. Be aware of dams and major reservoirs. Earthquakes can damage and weaken these structures and several hours after the earthquake strikes these structures may give way and a massive wall of water may come down covering parts of the city.

11. Los Angeles is along the coast and if the earthquake is powerful enough, it can cause a tsunami. So if you live along the coast and you have you head about you during the original massive earthquake, then slowly count. In general, the duration of a major earthquake provides an instant estimate of its size. A minute-long quake is in the high sevens on the Richter scale, a two-minute quake has entered the eights, and a three-minute quake is in the high eights. By four minutes, an earthquake has hit magnitude 9.0. So in general, if one accurately measures the duration of the quake and it is 3 minutes or longer, a mega-tsunami may arrive within 15 minutes in nearby coastal regions. In which case automatically seek higher ground immediately.

One of the problem with earthquakes is that they can damage and destroy dams and reservoirs. Apparently there is an old reservoir that is at risk of an earthquake. Federal regulators have ordered that a large reservoir south of San Jose be drained due to fears a dam could collapse in an earthquake, sending a torrent of water into Silicon Valley.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered last week that the Anderson Reservoir be completely drained by Oct. 1 due to fears the 240-foot high earthen Anderson Dam poses too great a risk of collapse if a large earthquake strikes.

Anderson Reservoir was built in 1950 between San Jose and the community of Morgan Hill and can hold 90,000 acre-feet of water. The reservoir is the largest in Santa Clara County and holds more than half the water district's capacity in all of its facilities.

Since 2009, the dam’s water level has been kept at a maximum of 74 percent of capacity because of an assessment that it could fail in a 7.2 magnitude quake or stronger. The reservoir is built along the Calaveras Fault. On Monday, amid the threat of another drought in California, Anderson Reservoir was just 29 percent full.

"Studies have shown a large earthquake could damage Anderson Dam, causing an uncontrolled release of water that could inundate cities and rural areas from San Francisco Bay south to Monterey Bay, including much of Silicon Valley," according to the water district.

In 2019, Valley Water produced a video depicting a worst-case scenario if a filled-to-capacity Anderson Dam failed in the event of a major earthquake, which showed major flooding in Coyote Creek that stretched all the way to San Jose. Coyote Creek flows from the dam through downtown San Jose to San Francisco Bay.

Source: California dam ordered to be drained over fears earthquake could collapse structure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGEpZfSetTU