Tier 04 · Personalize · Earthquake
What earthquake preparedness actually requires at home. The first sixty seconds, the fixes you make in advance, and the week that comes after the shaking stops.
Regional reality
Most US earthquake risk concentrates in six regions. The other forty-four states have small events too. If you live in one of these, your preparation looks different.
01
California, Oregon, Washington. The San Andreas system and the Cascadia subduction zone. Cascadia is the one most experts watch, a megathrust capable of magnitude 9 events with regional tsunami risk.
~10,000 felt earthquakes per year in California alone.
02
The most seismically active state by a wide margin. Anchorage felt M7.1 in 2018. The 1964 Good Friday quake at M9.2 is still the second-largest ever instrumentally recorded.
Roughly 40,000 earthquakes per year, most too small to feel.
03
Memphis to St. Louis, through Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky. The 1811 to 1812 sequence produced three M7+ events. Most buildings here were never designed for shaking.
A repeat would damage seven states.
04
Salt Lake City, Provo, Ogden. The Wasatch fault is overdue, in the sense that paleoseismic records show major events every 300 to 350 years and the last one was longer than that ago.
Most older buildings are unreinforced masonry.
05
The southwestern coast in particular. The 2019 to 2020 sequence delivered M6.4 in January 2020 and damaged thousands of homes. Tsunami risk along the north coast.
Active aftershock sequences can last more than a year.
06
Big Island especially. Earthquakes here are usually volcanic in origin and shallower than tectonic events, which means strong shaking close to the source. Tsunami protocol is part of the regional baseline.
Volcanic and tectonic events both occur.
Earthquakes are the rare hazard with no forecast. The West Coast operates ShakeAlert, which uses early-detected P-waves to push a few seconds of warning to phones before the heavier S-waves arrive. A few seconds is enough to drop and cover. It is not enough to leave a building. Outside the ShakeAlert footprint, there is no warning at all.
Enable Wireless Emergency Alerts on your phone. On iOS and Android, the default settings cover earthquake notifications where available. In California, Oregon, and Washington, the MyShake app delivers ShakeAlert directly.
Before the shaking
Tiers 1 through 3 cover the supplies you'll want. These are the things specific to earthquake that the universal pillars miss. Most of them take an afternoon and cost less than dinner out.
01
A 40-gallon tank is 400 pounds when full. When it walks across the room, it shears the gas line, the supply pipes, and the vent. Two heavy-gauge metal straps, lagged into wall studs, run $15 to $30.
The single highest-leverage retrofit in an earthquake home. Required by California code on new installs since 1991.
02
Bookshelves, dressers, china cabinets, top-heavy entertainment units. Anchor them with furniture brackets into wall studs, $5 to $15 per piece. The simple test: push hard. If it rocks, anchor it.
In documented quakes, injuries from falling furniture exceed injuries from collapsed buildings.
03
Kitchen cabinets eject plates and glasses during shaking. Push-latches or magnetic catches run $2 to $5 per door. The same childproof latches work, at the same price.
The mess after a quake is rarely the quake itself. It's the broken contents of unlatched cabinets.
04
A 12 to 15 inch non-sparking wrench, $15 to $25, kept near your gas meter. After a damaging quake you may need to shut off gas at the main valve. Only shut off if you smell gas, hear hissing, or see visible damage.
Once off, only the gas company can safely turn it back on. An automatic earthquake gas shutoff valve runs $200 to $400 plus install.
05
Liquefaction is what happens when saturated soil temporarily acts like a liquid during shaking. Buildings on fill, near rivers, or on old wetlands shake harder and longer than buildings on bedrock. The USGS publishes liquefaction maps for major metro areas.
Same earthquake, different ground, different outcome. Look up your address once.
06
Houses built before 1979 in California, and many older homes elsewhere, often aren't bolted to their foundations. A bolted-and-braced retrofit runs $3,000 to $7,000 in California, with state rebate programs covering a meaningful share.
The California Earthquake Brace + Bolt program covers up to $3,000 for eligible homes.
Heavy objects belong on lower shelves. Beds belong away from windows and away from heavy art hung over the headboard. The bedroom is where many people are when the earth moves, and it's often the most retrofittable room in the house.
During the event
Drop, cover, hold on. Three words, in that order. Doorways are not safer than the rest of the house. Running outside is more dangerous than staying put. The old advice was wrong.
0
As soon as you feel shaking, drop to your hands and knees. If you're standing, you'll fall anyway. Drop on purpose, before that happens.
1
Get under a sturdy table or desk. If there's no table nearby, get against an interior wall away from windows, mirrors, hanging art, and heavy furniture. Cover your head and neck with your arms. In bed, stay there and pull a pillow over your head.
2
Hold the table leg with one hand. Shaking moves furniture. If your shelter slides, you want to slide with it. Stay down until the shaking has stopped for at least ten seconds.
Move to an open area away from buildings, power lines, and trees. Drop down. Most earthquake injuries outdoors come from falling glass, masonry, and overhead wires.
Pull over to an open area as quickly as it's safe to. Stay clear of bridges, overpasses, power lines, and tall buildings. Stay in the vehicle, parking brake on, until shaking stops.
Stay there. Cover your head and neck with a pillow. Getting up in the dark with broken glass on the floor is how most non-event injuries happen.
Lock the wheels, lean forward, and protect your head and neck with your arms. If moving to cover isn't possible, shelter in place and stay covered.
Expect at least one significant aftershock within the first hour. Often many. They are not the original quake returning. They can bring down already-damaged structures.
Check yourself first, then anyone with you. Don't move someone with a possible spinal injury unless they're in further danger.
If you smell gas or hear hissing, leave the building and call from outside. Use a flashlight, not a lighter. Don't flip light switches. A small spark in a gas-filled room is the problem.
After the event
The shaking ended in seconds. The recovery week is what tests the supplies. Three things matter most in the first 72 hours: aftershocks, utilities, and documentation.
Account for everyone in the household. Check on neighbors, especially older ones. Inspect the house from outside before going back in. Look for foundation cracks, chimney damage, gas smells, and downed lines.
Aftershocks begin almost immediately. Don't stand under damaged structures.
Assess utilities. Water lines often break before you notice. If your water runs brown or doesn't run at all, switch to stored water. Don't flush if sewer service may be compromised. If the chimney has shifted, don't light a fire.
Use stored water for drinking. Use the toilet tank for flushing only if the sewer line is intact.
Document everything before you clean it up. Photo and video every damaged item, every cracked wall, every shifted foundation, with timestamps. Insurance adjusters and federal assistance programs need this.
A standard homeowner's policy does not cover earthquake damage. Coverage is a separate policy.
After a mainshock at M6 or above, expect roughly one M5+ aftershock in the first day, several M4+, and a long tail of smaller events that may continue for weeks or months. Aftershocks are not a return of the original quake. They are a separate set of events as the fault settles, and they cause significant additional damage to structures already weakened.
Don't return to a damaged structure between aftershocks to grab one thing. Many post-quake injuries happen this way. The structure has to be inspected first.
Where to look
The authoritative sources for earthquake guidance, mapping, and warning. Bookmark the ones relevant to where you live.
Live event maps, hazard maps, fault information, and the official US source on every earthquake.
earthquake.usgs.gov →
The early warning system for California, Oregon, and Washington. Enable on your phone through the MyShake app or built-in alerts.
shakealert.org →
Federal preparedness guidance for households, including the household plan template and downloadable checklists.
ready.gov/earthquakes →
The Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety, retrofitting guides, and the Great ShakeOut drill, hosted at the Southern California Earthquake Center.
earthquakecountry.org →
Earthquake insurance and the Brace and Bolt rebate program for foundation retrofits. California residents only.
earthquakeauthority.com →
Earthquake preparedness guides, post-event shelter location tools, and free first aid courses.
redcross.org →
Start where it matters
The retrofits matter. The 60 seconds matter. But neither helps without 72 hours of water, light, food, and a working household plan underneath. Start with the foundation.