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99.7 percent chance of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Southern California in the next 30 years, and a 46 percent likelihood of a much more powerful magnitude 7.5 quake (still hundreds of times smaller than the Sendai quake) in the next 30 years,” said Professor of Geology Donald Prothero in a Los Angeles Times Opinion piece.
“What I hope that everyone gets from it is, take a look at your emergency preparedness, particularly the students,” Nieto said. “If there’s three percent of students who are prepared… that’s a big number I think. We need to do a better job at making sure our students have awareness.” Many dorm rooms lack earthquake kits, seemingly essential to any Los Angeles residence.
Buildings on campus vary in ability to withstand earthquakes. For example, a significant reason for the renovation of Swan Hall is the fact that it was not built to modern earthquake codes. Yet Swan Hall is not the only building that would have issues in an earthquake.
“You don’t want to run out of the building when it’s shaking if it’s got clay tile on the outside,” Nieto said, citing Johnson and Fowler as examples.
Occidental has taken steps to ensure that in the event of a major earthquake there are plans in place to protect the students and faculty.
“Over the last five years, we have done a better job of getting ownership of items for emergency preparedness response,” Nieto said. There is a bunker near Anderson Field filled with emergency response items such as medical triage equipment and search and rescue equipment.
“Each department has been asked to come up with a business continuity plan,” Nieto said. “Computer systems are backed up to an off-site location.”
In addition, Occidental keeps about three days worth of food in stock which could be used to feed the campus with no outside deliveries according to Nieto. The college has also negotiated deals with food suppliers which gives Occidental first priority for food deliveries in the event of a disaster.
Ultimately, the amount of provisions available in an emergency depend on funding decisions made by President Veitch and top administrators, according to Nieto.
“It comes down to really tough resource allocation decisions, and the president and his cabinet have a really tough job to do,” Nieto said. “It always comes down to money. I think they are making wise decisions based on the push-pull around those decisions, and I’m glad I’m not in their positions. I’m the one who tells them what we need…we do the best with what we get.”
Nieto also stresses the importance of students preparing themselves.
“We’ve done an awful lot institutionally, but it remains that the base of that institution is the individual,” Nieto said. “We do training with our RA staff and ResEd staff.” Yet, the school acknowledges that there is more work for them to do to further campus awareness on emergency preparedness.
Momoko Matsuda (first-year) has an uncle in Japan who was traveling by train to Tokyo the day of the disaster. Momoko and her family did not hear about the earthquake until Saturday morning western time and tried to call family members, but no one answered their phones. It was not until Sunday that her mom came into contact with Matsuda’s great-aunt who lives in Japan.
“They had felt the earthquake, but everyone was fine. The problem was that no one was able to reach my uncle,” Matsuda said. Matsuda’s uncle was going to Tokyo for a business trip and was considering stopping off at Sendai, a city that was extremely affected by the earthquake.
“I remember checking the database every thirty minutes, but no one had information on him,” Matsuda said, referring to Google’s Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake, which allows people to determine the whereabouts of lost friends and family members.
Matsuda and her family waited and prayed for good news until her great-aunt called early in the morning on Monday saying he was found at a hospital in Tokyo with minor leg injuries. Matsuda and her family consider themselves fortunate. They had many friends who suffered situations far worse.
“My mom’s friend lives in Tokyo, and she lost her mom, aunt and dog because one of the beams in the house fell,” Matsuda said.
Despite the grim outcome of the earthquake, many people in Japan are staying strong and levelheaded about the whole situation.
“Although the people are mourning for those who died, they aren’t really upset. They were very accepting of the fact that these things happen and will pass with time,” Matsuda said. She insists that the people in Japan are dealing with the situation much more calmly than people in the United States. “They don’t seem nearly as panicked as we are from our outside perspective,” she said.
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