Don't Stand in the Door Frame: What to Do in an Earthquake | Earthquakes

Millions of people were shaken across the US East Coast on Friday morning when a rare 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck the area.

The quake, whose epicenter was in New Jersey, struck densely populated areas where residents are less accustomed to earthquakes, including the New York City metropolitan area. There are no early warning systems in this area, unlike the earthquake-prone West Coast, giving people a few moments to prepare before the tremors begin. On the East Coast, there were fewer people with practice or experience in what to do in an earthquake.

Dangerous earthquakes can occur across the United States, according to the USGS, but knowledge and preparation can save lives. So what do you do when a building starts swaying?

Decades of research and recovery have formed the official protocol: “Drop, cover, and wait.”

People have long believed that they should rush to frame the door, but this advice is outdated and was only implemented before building codes were improved. “People worry about structural collapse, but it's all the shelves, books, TVs and non-structural components that pose the greatest risk to human health,” said Dr. Scott Brandenberg, an earthquake engineer and professor at the University of California.

The first thing you should do is stand on your hands and knees, which is the best position to ensure that you do not fall or get hit by falling objects. Next, protect your head and neck with one arm and one hand. If possible, the best thing you can do is find something sturdy that you can climb under, close to where you are. This could be your desk if you work or a table in a café, or if that's not an option, set up next to an interior wall. Next, using the hand that is not covering your head and neck, grab the leg of the table and be prepared to hold on to this structure even as it swings.

“The idea is that you're trying to protect yourself from things that could fall on you,” said Dr. William Yek, a research geophysicist at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center. “People get injured when they try to move during the shaking, so it's a good idea to hold on tight and wait out the shaking.”

For those who use a wheelchair, officials advise locking the wheels, getting down as low as possible, covering your head and neck with your arms and holding still until the shaking stops.

“First things first: If you feel an earthquake, resist the urge to run outside,” the California Earthquake Authority wrote in a post about best practices. Shattered windows, falling debris from buildings, trees, and fallen power lines can pose real hazards, in addition to potential damage from falling while the ground shakes.

Experts hope Friday's quake will leave a lasting mark on the minds of those who felt it, and serve as a wake-up call for people to educate themselves about safety and preparedness.

“It's a great learning opportunity,” Yick said. “It put earthquakes in people's minds so they know they have to be prepared for earthquakes and they have to know what to do when they feel the shaking — which is fall, cover and cling — but it was small enough where it didn't have a major impact.”

The earthquake was also a useful indicator that would help scientists map and better understand future risks. Although earthquakes are less common in the East than in the West, they are not unheard of. Earthquakes devastated New York City in 1737 and 1884, and moderate-impact tremors hit “somewhere in the urban corridor approximately twice every century,” the agency said in an analysis published Friday morning.

“The urban corridor is full of known faults, but many small or deeply buried faults remain undiscovered. Even known faults are poorly located at seismic depths,” the USGS said, adding that the best guide to seismic risk in this region “is earthquakes.” itself”.

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