Rockin' and rollin' in AK

[Swan]

OK, first things first... I've lived in Southern California and Northern. Been through five major quakes. The Sylmar, the Whittier Narrows, the Loma Prieta, the San Fernando and one I can't remember the name of...I was a baby. My sister was in the Northridge Quake, my grandmother through the Long Beach Quake. My great grandfather lost his barber shop in the 1906 San Francisco Quake... BTDT. Needless to say, earthquakes don't necessarily alarm me UNLESS I'm in an Unreinforced Masonry Building (UMB)

If you have large heavy furniture that is not c0ompletely stable... bracket it to the studs in the wall. If it's stable, you can bracket it to the floor or place brackets attached to floor and not furniture, as a "fence"... although I don't recommend the latter. In the Loma Prieta, I kept hearing banging and realixed it was my bed "jumping up and down on the moving floor" I gave it a 5 for being clumsy, but added a 3 for sticking the dismount.

Now.. the dolliehs... you can get "Fun-tack", also known as 'library tack" which is a sort of soft material that *sticks* to things, but does not leave a rsidue. Place the dolliehs you want to display whee you want them, fun-tack their shoes or furniture they're sitting on, or the doll stands to the furniture and voila! You can also use thumbtacks, a board and rubber bands, to anchor them, then fun-tack the board to the furniture. You can also use wax or other adhesive... always tEST first to make sure whatever you use doesn't stain or mark.

If the dolliehs are Obitsus, you can place a large piece of metal down and magnetize them to that... and magnetize the metal to the furniture, or a heavy board, with glued-down rare-earth magnets. Also, for yourself... check out or make a "bug-out bag". The bug-out bag is an emergency supply kit with credit cards, around $100 in small bills and coins, copies of ALL important papers or on a CD) and pictures (likewise on a CD), a pair of heavy shoes and thick socks, a crowbar and heavy shears and a hard hat. Also include notes and sticky tape and a felt tip marker.

Have a meet-in-case-of-disaster plan for yourself and family Choose a place that is reachable by all members in the event of a disaster. In my bug out bag, Ihad notes I could put on the door which read
SWAN RESIDENCE.
There are _2_ people and _1_ dogs.
We Have_ Have not_ Evacuated.
______________________ is/are Hurt
______________________Is-Are Not Hurt
CONTACT NUMBER______________________
Help is Needed __ Not Needed__
WE HaVE GONE TO _____________________

The card was laminated so that I could use a dry-erase marker OR permanent marker (both were included)

The idea behind the bug-out bag is that nearly EVERYONE who has lost a home in a fire, quake or other disaster has lamented "Oh if ONLY I could have saved my pictures!" or "We really NEEDED our ID cards, but we left in only our PJs and slippers!" Also have crates or carriers or collar and leash READY so that you can evacuate pets. In the bug out bag have the NAMES of your relatives, doctors), veterinarians, etc, and their contact info... better yet... make a duplicate address book!

Papers you CANNOT afford to lose, like wills, trust deeds, property deeds, etc, should be kept in a sealed container in the freezer of your refrigerator. Firefighters tell me that even in fires, refrigerators tend to survive and freezers remain sealed protecting your papers! In quakes, even if the house is reduced to rubble, you can always FIND the fridge! For a long time, I kept my jewelry there also... thieves NEVER look for stuff there!

There's LOTS of other information on te Internet. If you are in a safe building, and are prepared... earthquakes aren't as terrifying.

Swan

[kenaiqueen]

Thanks Swan, that's a lot of good advice. I do have all the important papers in one spot to grab quickly but the freezer idea seems like a good one too. I also keep most of my digital pics on a thumb drive in my purse along with back ups of my writing. I like the card idea too.

There were two homes fairly close by that had gas explosions w/fires and fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but both places were total losses. I don't think the appliances even survived.

I have secured my dolls a bit better and most are in the dollsafe boxes now.