24 Years Later--Progress Made Since Loma Prieta Earthquake

The Loma Prieta Earthquake was in October 1989.  It was a significant event fed to the world via live TV due to the World Series being held in San Francisco at that very hour.  The fact that most people were home watching the event helped lower the death toll that was sure to be more if traffic had been on the bridges that collapsed during what would have been rush hour.

 

Emergency Management Magazine has a feature story on the lessons learned since the quake and what has been done to put systems and procedures in place for the next big event, see 7 Ways the Response to a Devastating Earthquake Has Changed 

 



 

Hopefully the progress describe in San Francisco is also mirrored in what you and your agency have accomplished since your last big disaster.  While there is an initial surge in preparedness activities following a major event it will take a sustain, long term effort to improve readiness in a community and a region.  

 

I still say that technology is one of the areas that we need to take advantage of today to improve what our capabilities are.  This too will take sustained effort to implement and then keep going over the long haul.  The challenge is that technology is not static--sometimes it can feel like a rat race to keep up with innovation.