Earthquake Preparedness: The Complete Guide

Earthquakes give zero warning. No watches, no alerts, no 48-hour countdown. The ground just moves. That makes earthquake preparedness fundamentally different from every other disaster on this site. You cannot prepare when one is coming because you will never know it is coming. You prepare now, or you do not prepare at all.

Who Needs to Prepare (Hint: More People Than You Think)

California gets all the attention, but 42 of the 50 U.S. states have a reasonable chance of experiencing damaging earthquakes in the next 50 years, according to the USGS. The New Madrid Seismic Zone threatens Memphis, St. Louis, and the entire central Mississippi Valley. The Cascadia Subduction Zone could produce a magnitude 9.0 event that devastates the Pacific Northwest. Charleston, South Carolina had a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in 1886 that destroyed much of the city.

If you live in the United States, earthquake preparedness applies to you. The question is not if your region will experience an earthquake. It is whether you will be ready when it does.

Secure Your Home Before an Earthquake

Most earthquake injuries happen from falling objects, not collapsing buildings. Modern construction codes mean your house will probably stay standing. But everything inside it becomes a hazard when the shaking starts.

The Big Stuff

• Strap your water heater. An unstrapped water heater can topple, rupture gas lines, and start fires. Most hardware stores sell earthquake strapping kits for under $30. Many states require it by code.
• Anchor tall furniture. Bookshelves, dressers, entertainment centers, and filing cabinets should all be bolted to wall studs with L-brackets or furniture straps. This is especially critical in kids' rooms.
• Secure your foundation. Older homes (pre-1980) often sit on cripple walls that are not bolted to the foundation. Retrofit bolting costs $3,000 to $7,000 but can prevent your house from sliding off its foundation entirely. Some states offer grants to help cover the cost.
• Flexible gas connections. Replace rigid gas lines to your water heater, stove, and dryer with flexible connectors. Rigid pipes snap during shaking. Flexible ones bend.

Room by Room

• Kitchen: Install latches on cabinets to prevent dishes and glasses from flying out. Move heavy items to lower shelves.
• Living room: Secure your TV with anti-tip straps. Mount heavy mirrors and artwork with closed hooks (not open picture wire) so they cannot bounce off the wall.
• Bedroom: Do not hang anything heavy above your bed. Move heavy furniture away from where you sleep. Keep shoes and a flashlight under the bed because you will be walking through broken glass if a quake hits at night.
• Garage: Secure shelving units to walls. Store chemicals and flammable materials on the lowest shelves in sealed containers.

Build Your Earthquake Kit

After a major earthquake, you should assume you are on your own for at least 72 hours. FEMA recommends that minimum, but the reality after a large urban earthquake could be much longer. Infrastructure fails in ways that are hard to predict: roads crack, bridges collapse, water mains break, and gas lines rupture across entire regions.

The Basics

• Water: One gallon per person per day, minimum 7-day supply. Store water in food-grade containers and replace it every 6 months. A water filtration system handles additional needs if your supply runs out.
• Food: Canned goods, freeze-dried meals, energy bars, dried fruit, nuts. Plan for at least 7 days. Include comfort foods because morale matters after a disaster.
• First aid kit: A serious one, not the $10 drugstore version. Include trauma supplies: tourniquets, hemostatic gauze, chest seals. Crush injuries are common after earthquakes.
• Dust masks or N95 respirators: Collapsed structures create massive dust clouds full of concrete, asbestos (in older buildings), and other debris.
• Work gloves and sturdy shoes: You will be walking through and possibly digging through debris.
• Wrench for gas shutoff: Keep a 12-inch crescent wrench strapped to your gas meter. If you smell gas after an earthquake, shut it off immediately. Only your utility company should turn it back on.

Communication and Light

• NOAA weather radio: Cell towers may be down for days. A hand-crank radio with NOAA bands keeps you connected to emergency broadcasts.
• Flashlights and headlamps: Multiple, with extra batteries. LED headlamps keep your hands free for digging out or navigating debris.
• Whistle: If you are trapped, a whistle carries much farther than your voice and uses almost no energy. Attach one to your go bag and keep one by your bed.
• Phone charger: A portable battery bank with at least 20,000 mAh. Solar chargers work as backup but are slower.

Go Bag: Ready to Grab in 60 Seconds

Keep a packed go bag by your front door or in your car. After a major earthquake, you may need to evacuate quickly due to aftershocks, gas leaks, or structural damage. Your go bag should sustain you for 72 hours away from home.

• Water (3 liters minimum) and water filter
• 3 days of non-perishable food
• First aid kit
• Flashlight, batteries, hand-crank radio
• Cash in small bills ($300 to $500)
• Copies of important documents in a waterproof bag
• Change of clothes and sturdy shoes
• Medications (rotate these regularly so they do not expire)
• Phone charger and portable battery
• N95 masks and work gloves

During an Earthquake: Drop, Cover, Hold On

When the shaking starts, you have seconds to react. The correct response has been the same for decades: Drop, Cover, and Hold On.

• DROP to your hands and knees. This position prevents you from being thrown to the ground.
• COVER your head and neck under a sturdy desk or table. If there is no table nearby, get against an interior wall and cover your head with your arms.
• HOLD ON to your shelter and be prepared to move with it. Earthquake shaking can shift furniture across a room.

Myth Busting

Do not stand in a doorway. This advice is outdated and based on old adobe construction. In modern buildings, doorways are no stronger than any other part of the structure, and you are exposed to swinging doors and flying debris.

Do not run outside. Most injuries occur when people try to move during shaking. Falling debris, glass, and building facades make the area immediately outside a building extremely dangerous.

The "triangle of life" is not supported by any major emergency management agency. Stick with Drop, Cover, Hold On. It is backed by decades of research and endorsed by FEMA, the Red Cross, and every credible seismological organization.

Specific Situations

• In bed: Stay in bed, cover your head with a pillow. Getting up in the dark means walking through broken glass.
• Driving: Pull over away from bridges, overpasses, power lines, and buildings. Stay in the car with your seatbelt on until shaking stops.
• Outdoors: Move to an open area away from buildings, trees, and power lines. Drop and cover your head.
• In a high-rise: Drop, cover, hold on. Do not use elevators. Expect sprinkler systems and fire alarms to activate.

After the Earthquake

The initial quake is just the beginning. Aftershocks can be nearly as strong as the main event and continue for weeks or months. The 2011 Christchurch earthquake that killed 185 people was actually an aftershock of an earlier, larger quake.

Immediate Actions

• Check for injuries. Treat serious bleeding first. Do not move anyone with potential spinal injuries unless they are in immediate danger.
• Check for gas leaks. If you smell gas, open windows, leave the building, and shut off the gas at the meter. Do not use any electrical switches or create sparks.
• Check for structural damage. Look for cracks in walls, shifted foundations, and broken chimneys. If your home looks structurally compromised, get out and do not reenter.
• Put on shoes. Broken glass will be everywhere. This is why you keep shoes by your bed.
• Turn on your weather radio for emergency broadcasts and tsunami warnings if you are in a coastal area.

Communication Plan

Cell networks overload immediately after a major earthquake. Calls will not go through. Texts are more likely to work because they use less bandwidth. Establish a family communication plan before an earthquake happens:

• Pick an out-of-state contact everyone can check in with. Long-distance calls often get through when local ones do not.
• Designate a meeting point near your home and another outside your neighborhood.
• Make sure every family member knows the plan. Practice it.
• Register on the Red Cross Safe and Well website (safeandwell.communityos.org) so family can confirm you are okay.

Earthquake Insurance: Do You Need It?

Standard homeowner's insurance does not cover earthquake damage. Period. If a quake cracks your foundation, collapses your chimney, or shifts your house off its supports, your regular policy will not pay a cent.

Earthquake insurance is a separate policy with its own deductible, typically 10% to 20% of your home's value. That means on a $400,000 home, you are paying the first $40,000 to $80,000 out of pocket before coverage kicks in. That is steep, but it is still better than absorbing a total loss.

If you live in California, the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) is the primary provider. Premiums vary based on your home's age, construction type, soil type, and proximity to fault lines. In other states, check with your existing insurer or a specialty provider.

The real question: can you afford to rebuild your home entirely out of pocket? If not, earthquake insurance is worth the premium.

Apartment and Renter Preparedness

You cannot bolt your building to its foundation, but you can still prepare effectively:

• Get renter's insurance with earthquake coverage. Your landlord's policy covers the building, not your stuff.
• Secure what you can. Strap bookshelves to studs, use museum putty on valuables, and install cabinet latches.
• Know your building. Soft-story apartment buildings (with parking on the ground floor) are particularly vulnerable in earthquakes. If you live in one, understand the risk and have an evacuation plan ready.
• Keep shoes and a flashlight by your bed. This simple habit could prevent serious foot injuries from broken glass.
• Store a go bag in your car. If your apartment is damaged, you need supplies that are not buried inside it.

Preparing Kids for Earthquakes

Kids handle emergencies better when they know what to expect. Practice Drop, Cover, Hold On at home so it becomes muscle memory. The Great ShakeOut (shakeout.org) is an annual earthquake drill held every October. Participating with your kids normalizes the response without scaring them.

Make sure your children's school has an earthquake plan and that you know where the reunification point is. Keep an emergency contact card in your child's backpack with your phone number, your out-of-state contact's number, and your family meeting points.

The Bottom Line

Earthquake preparedness comes down to three things: securing your space so things do not fall on you, building a kit so you can survive the aftermath, and knowing what to do when the shaking starts. None of this is complicated. None of it is expensive relative to the damage an earthquake can cause. The only real mistake is doing nothing and hoping it will not happen in your lifetime. Geology does not care about your schedule. Prepare now.