I should be prepared

Two days ago there was an earthquake in nearby Santa Clara county. A 5.1 magnitude event. I honestly did not feel it here at work in San Francisco, though oddly my coworkers felt the shaking. So did my friends group, and everybody that is local on my twitter feed. First thing to do after an earthquake - the non catastrophic kind, obviously - is to get on twitter and tweet about it. That’s the rule.

I guess the reason I did not feel the shake is because the duration was quite brief. The objects around me didn’t move at all. I was a bit worried about my bookshelves at home. Stuff falling out of it would land directly on my $2,000 electric piano. The iPad that I put there would surely get obliterated. I really should secure the bookshelves properly to the wall with the supplied brackets. Complacency - we haven’t had a truly big one since 1989 quake - and laziness gets to us all.

It’s those factors that are also causing me to procrastinate on an earthquake-readiness kit. A bug-out bag, if you will. A backpack filled with emergency food, water, clothing, copies of important documents, and straight cash (homie), ready to take at a moment’s notice. Honestly, someone need to hold me accountable on this so I actually get this done sooner rather than never. To be even more prepared, I should get an M1 motorcycle license, then buy a used bike. Therefore I won’t be stuck in traffic in a line of cars during a major disaster.

I should also get a gun permit, learn how to shoot one, then buy a gun to put in the bug-out bag. People are going to come for my stuff during the chaotic aftermath of an earthquake or tsunami. Besides, this is America - lots of folks have guns. I can’t be bringing a knife to a gun fight. That reminds me: a solid blade and a multitool is also needed in the disaster bag.

Plenty to do after I come back from next week’s vacation! Everything but the part about the gun. Maybe the motorcycle, too.

View fullsize

I wouldn’t park my sports car under a tree!

A bridge collapse in Genoa

Photo: Reuters. 

What a horrifying image. 

A bridge deck collapsing while I'm driving on it is just about my worst nightmare (thank you, fear of heights). Every time I travel across the Bay Bridge or the Golden Gate Bridge, images of the road-deck utterly falling into the water would always momentarily flash across my mind. This is partly why I never leave the house on weekends.

The above horror is the scene in Genoa, Italy, where a heavy storm caused one of the bridge towers to collapse. It's weird seeing actual buildings underneath the bridge, and in the picture towards the rear those sure look like apartment buildings. I understand land is immensely dearer in Europe than America so it's probably out of necessity, but it's still crazy. 

You cannot pay me enough to live in a house built underneath a bridge. I don't care how unlikely bridge failures are: I'd never get a good night's sleep in those conditions. This particular bridge got knocked over from a mere wind storm! You'd think it'd be engineered to withstand way worse than that: Italy is an earthquake-prone country after all. 

And what of the situation here in America? Many experts agree our infrastructure is crumbling and in dire need of repair, but both parties of congress have continually kicked the can on properly funding such needed endeavor. I hate to say it but it's going to take a catastrophe similar to this one in Genoa (dozens of people dead) in order to get any action from the federal government. 

I just hope I'm not on that bridge. 

Hurricane Harvey

In a game between man and Mother Nature, the latter always wins.

I’m simply horrified and disheartened at the destruction Hurricane Harvey has done to Houston and its surrounding area. It’s utterly unbelievable that there can be enough rain in such a short amount of time to flood a city up to the height of traffic lights. Most swimming pools haven’t got water that deep. Whilst countless people are stranded with flooded homes, at least the city was seemingly well prepared for the catastrophe, and therefore the casualties are but a handful. 

God bless the brave and heroic first-responders, volunteers, and journalists canvassing the area to rescue, tender, and bring us the news, respectively, and sometimes not so mutually exclusive.

As I sit here in San Francisco, I can’t help but think what would it be like when the big disasters hits home. By the virtue of sitting on an active fault-line and being surrounded by water on three sides, it’s a matter of when, not if. While the house we live in is built after new seismic regulations so it should withstand quite the shake if it were to occur, a tsunami coming in from the Pacific Ocean would be bedlam, and unavoidable. 

Evacuations? Our traffic system can’t handle the vehicle load on a good day; imagine all near million of us trying to leave this 7x7 square-mile space all at once. It’s practically impossible, I reckon. 

All of this reminds me, I’d better get started on that emergency kit we’ve all procrastinated on.