The Survival Guide › Earthquakes
🏕Earthquakes
No warning at all, and the most dangerous instinct — running outside — is the one everyone has.
What actually kills people. In countries with modern building codes, most injuries come from falling objects and from people moving during the shaking, not from buildings collapsing. Doorways and exteriors are where people get hurt; the floor under a solid table is where they do not.
Before
- Strap the water heater and the tall furniture to the studs. Latch the cupboards that are above head height.
- Keep shoes and a torch under the bed. Broken glass is the first hazard after the shaking stops.
- Know where the gas shut-off is and what tool it needs, and keep that tool with it.
- Store water. Mains supply is often the last utility restored.
- Standard home insurance does not cover earthquake damage. It is a separate policy.
During
- Drop, cover and hold on. Under a sturdy table if there is one; against an interior wall away from windows if not.
- Stay where you are. Do not run outside — falling glass and masonry come down at the edges of buildings.
- In bed, stay there and cover your head with a pillow.
- In a car, pull over clear of bridges, overpasses and wires, and stay in it.
- Expect it to feel much longer than it is.
After
- Expect aftershocks, and expect one of them to be large. Get clear of anything the mainshock weakened.
- Check for gas by smell and sound, not with a flame. If you smell it, get out and shut it off from outside.
- If you are near the coast and the shaking was long or strong, move inland and uphill without waiting for a tsunami warning. The shaking is the warning.
- Text rather than call, and keep off the roads.
The thing people get wrong
“Stand in a doorway.”
That advice comes from photographs of adobe houses where the doorframe was the only part left standing. In a modern building the doorway is no stronger than the wall, it puts you next to a door that can swing and crush fingers, and it leaves your head unprotected from everything coming off the shelves. Drop, cover, hold on.
On this site now: Recent earthquakes worldwide, with the significant ones kept for a month ›
The rest of the guide
Sources: National Weather Service, FEMA, CDC and CPSC. Informational only, and no substitute for what your local emergency services tell you on the day — when officials say go, go.