Wake-Up Call

(This blog is a modified version of an essay I posted March 18, 2014) 

 

 

California is no stranger to earthquakes. Consequently, public-service announcements regularly remind us to prepare for the Big One. (It’s coming!) When a 6.4 earthquake hit Santiago, Chile, yesterday, local news stations reminded Southern California residents to store enough food and water to last five days in case we had a similar quake in the near future. No need to wait: Napa Valley, California was rattled by a 6.0 quake at 3.20 this morning.

Anyone who experienced the 1989 San Francisco or the 1994 Northridge quake knows how deadly and destructive they can be. This morning’s temblor is reportedly the most powerful earthquake to strike Northern California since San Francisco’s “World Series Quake” in 1989. Regardless of its magnitude, any earthquake is terrifying and disorienting. It also triggers our two most basic emotional reactions, as described in John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind: fear of loud noises and fear of falling.

When the ground starts to move, buildings creak and groan as the structures sway or collapse on their foundations. Furniture and the objects resting on them, books standing on shelves or pictures hanging on the walls, may crash to the floor. The ground moves beneath our feet and can trigger vertigo and the innate fear of falling. Even if you have never experienced an earthquake before, you probably already know enough about this phenomenon to be concerned for your safety when the shaking starts. Everyone who has felt an earthquake before probably felt genuinely, understandably scared. However, this fear was not just about the disorienting physical sensations we experienced, but the violence of our anticipatory anxiety that was also triggered when the shaking started.

According to the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder anticipatory anxiety is an example of the fight/flight response, whereby a person instinctively prepares himself or herself to face a potential threat based on previous experience that the threat exists. “You’ve had the panic [and] you start worrying it will recur. You’re more affected by what you think will happen,” he observed. When the shaking started it must have triggered many people’s memories of the 1989 quake and their anticipatory anxiety about what could happen, this time. This is how it started/what it felt like last time. There is nowhere to go! There was so much damage to my house! Parts of the freeway collapsed. The neighbor had a heart-attack. Two homes in the neighborhood were condemned… Many people were still sleeping (and had not yet eaten breakfast) this morning when the shaking started, so a lower blood-sugar-level may have also exacerbated the physiological sensations that can occur during a fear or phobic response. Throughout the earthquake, heart-rates accelerated and breathing became shallow. Some people may have started to sweat profusely, felt dizzy or confused, and even experienced tunnel vision as they were reminded that they have no control over the environment (at that moment).

Although none of us have control over when, where and how large the movement of those tectonic plates beneath us will be, we absolutely can and do have control over our response during an earthquake. Take these hours and days when the memory of the fear and “flight” response is still fresh in your mind, and write a new mental script that focuses on and will activate the “fight” response. Make and rehearse an emergency plan with your family so everyone knows where to go, what to do and who to contact if there you need to reunite somewhere after the quake. Know where your gas meter is located on your property and be able to turn the gas off to prevent a leak. Participate in the earthquake “drills” at your school/college and in your neighborhood so you know what to do during and where to go after the earthquake. Learn CPR so you can provide first aid to the injured. Memorize the access routes into and out of your community if you need to evacuate the area. Pack the recommended quantity of food and water for you, your family and your pets—and make sure these supplies are accessible if you need to grab them in a hurry. Create a list of neighbors and out-of-state friends or relatives whom you can contact to send a message to loved ones about your health and whereabouts in case the phone lines are down after the earthquake. Learn breathing and relaxation techniques—even self-hypnosis—that you can use to be calm and focused during and after the earthquake, which will enable you to help yourself and others survive the days and weeks to come.

For more information about this morning’s earthquake in the Napa Valley go to http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc72282711#summary. You can find ore information about earthquake preparedness at www.redcross.org.

               

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014