I don't know about you, but I grew up in a part of the world where we had fire drills and tornado drills twice a year at school. To experience an earthquake, you had to go to the simulator at the Omniplex (now Science Museum OK). In the last few years, however, Oklahoma has become a hot spot for earthquakes - if you look at the USGS list of earthquakes, areas in north central Oklahoma are almost always on the list. I became especially concerned after the magnitude 4.7 earthquake earlier this week.
So now that we're having tons of earthquakes right here in Oklahoma, I find myself woefully undereducated and unprepared to deal with these situations.
To the research!
Ready.gov also says that if you are in bed, you should stay there during the earthquake.
If you're outside, stay away from possible sources of debris. If you're in your car, pull over when it's safe to do so.
In addition to this, the Red Cross says that standing in doorways does not make you safer than anywhere else in the house.
Also, if you're in a trailer or a building "unattached to its foundation," the Red Cross says you're at additional risk. (FEMA has some resources for people that own their dwelling who wish to make it more earthquake safe.)
Why is this happening to us now?
Some studies show a link between increased fracking (a method of natural gas extraction) and increased earthquakes. A report in MIT Technology Review found that "nearly all earthquakes were within two miles of high-volume injection wells." Some wells, however, have never triggered a seismic event.
Bloomberg published an article in October 2015 saying that these earthquakes are a threat to national security since much of the nation's oil runs through Oklahoma. If important oil centers such as Cushing were to be harmed, it could affect the entire country's oil supply.
RT, the always questionable Russian news organization, had a field day with Oklahoma's earthquakes and fracking.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission did call for disposal wells near the epicenter of strong earthquakes to be shut down and others to decrease their volume follow this week's earthquakes.
I'm not a geologist by any means, so if you have more information on this subject, let me know!
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Links:
Red Cross
Ready.gov
FEMA
If you feel an earthquake, help the USGS out and report it!
Image source: Flickr user Andy Maguire, used under CC 2.0.
- 9:43 AM
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