Shake Trailer Simulates ‘The Big One’
California’s Office of Emergency Services is shaking residents up.
An earthquake simulator called the “Shake Trailer” is making a tour of the state this week to help people prepare for earthquakes in the future. Riders feel the power of a simulated magnitude 7 earthquake and learn what they can do to better prepare.
California has 500 active fault lines that create thousands of small tremors every year. Experts have predicted, though, that a major earthquake could have disastrous results for the state.
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“The Big One” could kill as many 1,800 people and cause $200 billion in damages according to some estimates.
Jon Gudel, staff of CAL OES, said, “Earthquakes are the only no-notice disasters. … Earthquakes, as we’re talking right now, it could happen, there’s nothing stopping it from happening right now. And I think that’s what scares people.”
California’s Office of Emergency Services is offering help to prepare residents for earthquakes.
(Getty Images)
The Shake Trailer is designed to help riders know what a massive quake might feel like.
After going on the ride, Randy Baxter, a professor from California State University, said, “It was much stronger than I thought it would be. I’ve felt smaller earthquakes before, and at that level I realized I couldn’t even stand up. Because you’d think you could walk across the room or find a doorway or a safe place, but at that level you’d be thrown all over the place.”
That prior experience can be invaluable in the case of a sudden disaster, when every second counts.
Simply riding the Shake Trailer, though, is not all that residents can do.
CAL OES is urging residents to prepare in different ways. They have published an Earthquake Readiness Guide with tips on how to make an emergency plan and go bag. They have also launched an app called MyShake that can be downloaded to your phone.