UCSF professor shares quake preparedness tips

Preparing for an earthquake is kind of like locking the doors of your house, according to quake preparedness buff Matthew Springer.

Your chances of getting burglarized are miniscule, but you lock your doors anyway. Likewise, the probability of a major earthquake happening on any given day are small, but being ready is still a matter of common sense, Springer said.

Springer is an associate professor of medicine in the cardiology department at UC-San Francisco, but he has a passion for earthquake preparedness. He blogs and gives frequent talks on the topic, most recently on Monday to a group of more than 40 people at the St. Helena firehouse.

Some experts focus on preparing for the big one, like the 7.9-scale quake that hit San Francisco in 1906. But Springer said quakes with an intensity of between 6 and 7 like Loma Prieta in 1989 or Northridge in 1994 are bad enough to cause widespread damage, injuries and deaths, but small enough to still happen semi-regularly. The Aug. 24 quake in South Napa measured 6.0.

The Red Cross likes you to prepare for 1906. I want you to prepare for 1989, Springer said.

Springer said that despite a dubious Triangle of Life chain email thats been criticized by experts, the best thing to do during an earthquake is get under something sturdy, like a dining room table.

People used to be taught to stand in a doorway, but that strategy actually originated in the days of adobe structures, when wooden door frames were the sturdiest part of a building. In modern structures, doorways arent any safer than the rest of the house, Springer said.

Running out of a building is a bad idea, and has led to many people being hurt or killed by falling bricks, masonry and glass, Springer said.

The question of whether to turn off the natural gas right after an earthquake is a controversial one, Springer said. Once the gas is turned off, PG&E advises homeowners not to turn it back on until the pipes have been inspected, which could take weeks to schedule after a major disaster.

Springer said his advice is to sniff for natural gas right after an earthquake, and only turn the gas off if you smell it. Keep an appropriate wrench near the valve.

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UCSF professor shares quake preparedness tips