Monday, January 18, 2016

Remembering the 1994 Northridge Earthquake

Image courtesy of Microsoft




Twenty-two years ago yesterday, a strong earthquake rocked Southern California. Needless to say, residents who experienced the 6.7 Northridge earthquake were pretty shaken up by the experience (pun intended). People living near the beach worried that there might be a tsunami. For several days, many residents preferred to sleep outside or in their cars in front of their home rather than go indoors and risk a building collapse on them in an after-shock. The Federal Emergency Management Administration immediately contacted residents to make sure they had a television and/or a radio to receive emergency updates. If not, FEMA immediately provided one of the devices for anyone who needed it.

Since the quake struck very early in the morning on a national holiday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, most people were home and off the roads. Fifty-seven individuals died, but authorities believed there would have been many more fatalities if the earthquake had happened later or during a regular work day. For months, after-shocks were strong and frequent. Bottled water was provided for drinking until damaged water pipes could be repaired. Homes in the neighborhood where I grew up were so damaged that they had to be torn down. The hospital where my dad worked also sustained serious damage; one building was red-tagged and still awaits demolition.

Earthquakes can strike anywhere. However, anyone living in California or anywhere along the geological Ring of Fire is vulnerable to this kind of major tectonic-plate activity. On March 17, 2014, Los Angeles residents received an early-morning reminder of this fact in the form of a 4.4 magnitude temblor that immediately became known as the “Shamrock Shake.” It was yet another reminder that what happened here in 1994, or worse, could happen again.
 
 Many people who lived through it still reminisce about the Northridge quake as if it just happened. No matter how minor the shaking is, or what time of day it hits, any earthquake can be terrifying and disorienting because it 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 on shelves and pictures hanging on the walls come crashing to the floor. A swaying or jerking sensation of the ground moving beneath our feet and can trigger vertigo and the innate fear of falling. News reports about the earthquakes and tsunamis in the Indian Ocean (2004) and Japan (2012) are enough to trigger concern for your safety the first time you experience this kind of shaking. Even someone who has never been “in” an earthquake before probably knows or has some idea about what is going on the first time you experience this kind of shaking. I believe that a lot of the fear people have during an earthquake does not just come from about the disorienting physical sensations we experienced, but the violence of our anticipatory anxiety about what could happen that the shaking triggered. 

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 Northridge Quake hit in 1994, it was just after 4 a.m. Many people were still sleeping (and had not yet eaten breakfast) when the shaking started, so hunger and a lower blood-sugar-level may have contributed the physiological sensations that can occur during a fear or phobic response. During the time that the earthquake lasted, 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. Subsequent frequent and strong after-shocks would have reinforced the perception of having no control.

As Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the United States Geological Survey has explained during frequent press conferences since that time, Californians live in an earthquake zone. The Big One is (still) coming. None of us have control over when, where and how large the movement of those tectonic plates beneath us will be. However, we absolutely can and do have control over our response next time they do. 

Now that we are have just passed the anniversary of that devastating 1994 earthquake, it is important to take some precautions that can protect you during a future quake. As I advised in my previous blog titled Wake-Up Call, write a new mental script that focuses on and will activate an appropriate “fight” response the next time the ground starts to shake. Make and rehearse an emergency plan with your family so everyone knows where to go, what to do and whom 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 earthquake preparedness, go to 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/.
© 2016

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