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| 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
