Catch hope & encouragement with Erica on weekday mornings from 5:00 AM – 10:00 AM, and Sundays from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Erica:
It’s shakin’ season. Again, time for the Great Washington Shakeout. It’s going down tomorrow and that’s why our friend Steven is back on SPIRIT 1053. He is from the Washington Emergency Management Division. Thanks for being here!
Steven Friederich:
Hey Erica. Thanks for having me for another year.
Erica:
I am so thankful you’re back. I have to tell you, for the first time in my life, in the five years that I’ve been living here in the Pacific Northwest, I experienced my first earthquake.
Steven Friederich:
Oh, so you felt the 4.3 that we just had. Alright.
Erica:
I did. And the only thing I could think of, I was reading a book in bed and I was like, okay, is there a rat under my bed? Not that anything like that has ever happened, but what just made my bed move? And it was absolutely crazy and it’s inspiring me to download this, My Shake App.
Steven Friederich:
That’s great.
Erica:
What does it do?
Steven Friederich:
So, the My Shake App will give you a few seconds warning before we get a larger earthquake. So, the 4.3 that we just got, if you had gotten a 4.5, you would’ve gotten a little text beforehand and would encourage you to do drop, cover, hold,. Because like you said, for the 4.3, you didn’t really feel a whole lot. Maybe it was truck going by, but when you start getting into larger earthquakes, they last longer and they shake more vigorously. And so, it would be good to grab your dog, your baby, and then drop, cover hold if you know that earthquake is coming.
Erica:
And it also immediately just reminds you what to do.
Steven Friederich:
Yes, that’s important because otherwise somebody might freeze, and like, oh gosh, what’s happening? Or they might run out the building, or they might run into a doorway, and that’s something that we’ve heard. And doorway is one of those old tips and we don’t recommend the doorway so much anymore because the door can swing and slam into your fingers and slam into your body and make you fall.
Erica:
Definitely don’t want that to happen. So Steven, it’s the Great Washington Shakeout eve. Tomorrow at 10:19 AM wherever we are, whether we’re at work or in class, wherever we are, the park… you want us to practice what to do when there’s an earthquake. So remind us, what do we do, Steven?
Steven Friederich:
Drop cover, hold on. And people can go to shakeout.org/washington to learn more to register. So far we have more than 1.2 million people that have registered. You don’t have to register. It just helps us keep track, and lots and lots of schools, lots of businesses, lots of folks that end up doing it. And it’s a great thing, especially if you did feel this 4.3 we just had, because this is just like a little baby earthquake, compared to some of the larger earthquakes that we might have one day.
Erica:
Yes. We need that muscle memory, especially if that happens. So, would you share about that and why it’s so important?
Steven Friederich:
Oh, absolutely, for sure. I mean, a personal story, I went through the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, which is a six point something about 2001. And so I felt it as a kid, I’ve always done this drop cover hold exercise. So I went under my desk and I stayed safe. I had a coworker of mine who ran across the street and building. There was a glass building. The glass ended up shattering. She ended up getting hurt and that’s one of the things that you have to be super careful on. So, she thought she was doing best and she ended up getting hurt by evacuating. If she would’ve just stayed in the building and dropped under her desk, she would’ve been just fine.
Erica:
So we just need to be prepared. So Steven, why did you get into this line of work?
Steven Friederich:
I am a former reporter and I’ve always been interested in natural disasters and helping people. And so, this is just how my path traveled. I really enjoy helping the public and getting the message out for things like the Great Washington Shakeout.
Erica:
That’s so awesome. Thank you for doing what you’re doing. Is there anything else we need to know for tomorrow?
Steven Friederich:
On the coast, we do this tsunami siren test. So, there’s all these tsunami sirens all over the place, and they usually do this Westminster chimes on the first Monday of the month. So, for Shakeout Day, there’s going to be actually the wailing sound, the real emergency sound. And so, I just want to remind folks that when they hear this wailing sound, it is just a test. 10:19 AM October 19th, please don’t call 911. Don’t freak out. Don’t panic. There also might be evacuation drills in some schools, that the folks might be walking through, tsunami, evacuation route. Folks might be just leaving their school even if they’re not in a tsunami and going out into the baseball fields and stuff just to practice. So all of this is just part of the test. We definitely encourage folks to do those kinds of drills because like I said, practicing builds muscle memory for when a real earthquake comes.
Erica:
Absolutely. And I always like to ask you about schools before I let you go, because really it’s kids. I mean, the earlier you learn this, the better. Right?
Steven Friederich:
That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. I learned it as a kid. I’m not sure where you grew up, Erica, but there’s a lot of folks around here who did learn as a kid. But then people move here and they didn’t learn this as a kid. And so, now we’re training people to do this as an adult. So, we encourage families to talk together. If families have kids in school, I mean, it’d be really great to say, Hey, did you do the drop, cover, hold today? Or do great washing shakeout and maybe you let the kids talk about it and then if the kids talk about it, maybe you guys can all just do it right then and there under the family table. I mean, that’d be really cool too.
Erica:
Absolutely. Between dinner and dessert, I love it.
Steven Friederich:
That’s right.
Erica:
Steven with the Washington Emergency Management Division, thank you so much for coming on the show every year. We so appreciate you.
Steven Friederich:
Thank you so much, Erica. Have a great day.
Erica:
You too, my friend.
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