At L.A. City Hall, quake warning goes unheeded

At Los Angeles City Hall, the earthquake drill coincided with the regularly scheduled meeting of the Planning Commission, which had two high-profile issues on its agenda -– digital billboards and a 49-story tower planned for Century City.

The nine-member panel interrupted its meeting, moved to another room, had difficulty with its microphones and struggled to get its video system up and running. None of those problems had anything to do with the drill, however.

Instead, the disruptions were caused by the huge turnout for the Century City project. When the actual drill occurred, a City Hall security guard told the audience in the packed council chamber -– a room filled with lobbyists, union members and neighborhood activists -- that they were experiencing an earthquake drill and should immediately "duck, cover and hold."

No one did.

-- David Zahniser

Comments

[blgrn8]

Now, that's very annoying and irresponsible.

[Dan]

I think this "Shake Out" was a huge waste of money and probably cost the tax payers a bundle. Most businesses can't afford to participate and inconvienance customers or employees. It reminds me back in the day when we did "Air Raid Drills", what a scam that was. Everyone wanted to buy Air Raid Shelters etc. Remember, when the siren blasted and the teacher said, "children get under your desks now". The Home Depots and Lowes are probably hoping to be swarmed by customers to buy generators, flashlights, first aid kits etc. Living in California, if you don't have these things by now, shame on you. Firefighters, Police, state and local governments are the key players here. Hopefully, California has learned from mistakes made with Katrina and previous experiences with earthquakes. Let's get back to reality, work on the state budget and quit wasting tax payers money

[Thomas Hough]

Dan, you've got an attitude problem.

I think this drill was more about government, first responder, and police and fire agencies coming together, working together, and getting on the same page at the same time with one large drill. Instead of everyone training separately for the same thing, it makes sense to also once in a while train together and LEARN together at the same time for the same thing. Since an earthquake will affect more than one municipality at once, this is actually a reasonable and sane use of taxpayers' funds. That's not to say you take personal responsibility out of the equation, but this drill isn't just about an individual repsonse. So tell me again how this is a waste.

What was hopefully learned today, small details and large, probably won't make the paper or make the news and may not be readily seen by the naked eye, but I like to think our leaders and civil authorities will be able to stow away a few extra nuggets of knowledge and a few extra avenues for response, etc. when the real thing happens...and it will. We're overdue. 1857 and 1906 were a long, long time ago. Where is the harm in training for the real thing?

While the cops and fire departments will certainly have bigger fish to fry when the Big One happens than immediately helping you Dan, it doesn't mean that everyone got the day off today on the taxpayers' dime. This was a day for testing processes and procedures, and adapting and learning from mistakes. Better to iron this out now, wouldn't you say?

Stay safe, and be smart, and yes, be realistic. For once, Southern California came together - if only for a day - to plan for a reality no one here likes to think about.

[ddm97]

Disaster drills are an important exercise for all persons affected by a natural disaster. I just participated in the drill today. I work in a major Los Angeles area hospital with a trauma center and for people who don't work in a hospital you have no idea of all the services that have to be coordinated in order to provide emergency medical treatment to incoming patients while at the same time protecting and treating patients already in the hospital. The Shake Out was also a reminder to all of us to get our home plans in place and asking people to actually do the 'Duck, Cover and Hold' position was not to waste time or resources but to really impress upon people how serious this issue is. People need to be able to be self sufficient for at least 3 days because it ain't gonna be business as usual with the proverbial 'big one' hits. I can state with certainty that the loss in life and property in a real earthquake will be tremendously higher than what was spent today. And from what I observed at the command center of the hospital where I work the money was well spent.

[John B.]

The first post from Dan is way off. If you don't prepare and test your preparedness, then the disaster turns into a catastrophe.

Our office participated by simulating the earthquake via a fire alarm. Everyone ducked, covered and held on for two minutes wherever they were at the time. The management went so far as to give each staff person a scenario on what happens to them.

Thus, we had some people "injured", "unconscious", "OK", etc. to better simulate the reality of an earthquake that large. We also tested the office-designated first responders, internal emergency communications system and then debriefed on what we learned for the next simulation.

It certainly wasn't an "inconvenience" for us or our customers (some of whom participated with us once they realized what was going on). In the Big One, there will be no professional First Responders to help 99% of us for up to 5 days. If we don't test ourselves, then all of us lose. Including "Dan".

[Brandon Selby]

WASTE OF MONEY, WASTE OF MONEY, WASTE OF MONEY. HAS ANYONE INVESTIGATED THE TIME AND CASH FROM FEDs, STATE and LOCAL entities??????? STUPID AND WASTEFUL. THIS IS WHY WE ARE IN DEEP DO DO IN CALIFORNIA and AMERICA.

[Enlightenmen]

I'm hoping for a 9.5 magntude earthquake in Los Angeles!!!