At a Look
California Earthquake Preparedness Month 2026 emphasizes putting in the free MyShake app to realize as much as 30 seconds of early warning earlier than shaking arrives.
A whole 72-hour plan requires stockpiling one gallon of water per individual each day in food-grade HDPE containers and assembling a trauma-focused package with tourniquets.
10-minute household drills and a written communication plan with an out-of-state contact be certain that protecting responses grow to be automated even when cell service is overloaded.
Your loved ones wouldn’t know what to do if you weren’t there. That’s the worry most California mother and father carry quietly. This Earthquake Preparedness Month, let’s shut the hole utilizing household preparedness and warning expertise.
Final April 10, 2026, the MyShake app despatched alerts to customers within the Bay Space seconds earlier than shaking arrived from a regional earthquake. Certainly, each second issues. In that quick period of time, you’ll be able to drop, cowl, and maintain on. You may get out of the kitchen or step away from the window.
We now have the expertise to warn us in regards to the shake. The remaining query is whether or not your loved ones has a plan to make these minutes rely. This information covers the 4 parts of a whole household earthquake plan: the early warning system, your 72-hour provide package, a written communication plan, and a household drill.
Step 1: Obtain MyShake and Perceive What It Does
Picture: earthquake.ca.gov
MyShake is a free app from the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, accessible on each iOS and Android. It connects to California’s ShakeAlert early warning system, which makes use of a community of sensors to detect the preliminary wave of an earthquake earlier than the stronger shaking arrives, then pushes an alert to your cellphone.
The warning time varies based mostly in your distance from the earthquake’s epicenter. Close by places could obtain just one to five seconds of warning. Areas farther from the epicenter can obtain 10 to 30 seconds or extra. That will not sound like a lot, however FEMA’s personal steerage confirms that even just a few seconds of warning considerably reduces damage threat when folks use that point to take protecting motion.
Search “MyShake” within the App Retailer or Google Play, set up the free app, and allow notifications when prompted. Governor Newsom’s workplace highlighted it within the April 10 Earthquake Preparedness Month press launch, and Cal OES made it central to the “Do not Get Caught Off Guard” marketing campaign. In the event you stay in California and shouldn’t have it put in, do it now earlier than studying additional.
Step 2: Construct Your 72-Hour Earthquake Equipment
After a serious earthquake, you might not have entry to working water, working grocery shops, or practical roads for 72 hours or extra. FEMA’s commonplace suggestion is a minimal three-day provide for each member of your family. To organize for a quake, safe these fundamental staples first:
Water
Retailer 1 gallon per individual per day, minimal three-day provide. For a household of 4, that is 12 gallons in food-grade containers. Be sure that to retailer it away from direct daylight and warmth sources and change the provision each 6 to 12 months. Do not use milk jugs or cardboard juice containers for water storage as they degrade and permit contamination. Commercially sealed water jugs or devoted water-storage containers are the fitting alternative.
Meals
Retailer no-cook or easy-cook meals that your loved ones already eats. For instance, granola bars, canned beans, canned fruit, peanut butter, and crackers. Put together a camp range or propane burner so you’ll be able to warmth canned soups or cook dinner oatmeal even when the ability and gasoline strains are out. Goal for a three-day provide of about 2,000 energy per grownup per day. See our household emergency meals storage plan for a sensible pantry-building strategy with out a big upfront funding.
First Support and Trauma Fundamentals
Earthquakes trigger particular accidents reminiscent of lacerations from damaged glass, crush accidents, and mud inhalation. An ordinary shopper first-aid package just isn’t sufficient. Add a tourniquet (CAT or SOFTT-W, each can be found on Amazon for $25 to $35), hemostatic gauze, an Israeli strain bandage, and a pair of nitrile gloves. Each family member who’s sufficiently old ought to know easy methods to apply a tourniquet and easy methods to pack a wound with gauze. A 30-minute Cease the Bleed course, accessible free by way of the American School of Surgeons, covers each expertise.
Further Equipment Objects
Flashlight or headlamp with spare batteries (or hand-crank)
Moveable cellphone charger, absolutely charged earlier than an occasion
Battery-powered or hand-crank AM/FM radio for emergency broadcast reception
Mud masks or N95 respirators (minimal 2 per individual)
Work gloves for clearing particles
Copies of necessary paperwork in a water-proof bag
Money in small payments (ATMs could also be offline)
Prescription medicines, minimal 7-day provide
READ MORE: Medical Provides: Full Record Each Prepper Ought to Personal
Step 3: Write Your Household Communication and Rendezvous Plan
MyShake alerts everybody within the family once they’re dwelling. However what occurs when a serious earthquake strikes at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, when your youngsters are at college, your accomplice is on the workplace, and also you’re in a gathering downtown? That is the plan most households overlook.
A fundamental household communication plan has 4 components.
An out-of-state contact: native strains jam after main earthquakes; an out-of-state member of the family serves because the communication hub for check-ins.
Two assembly factors: one close to your private home for neighborhood evacuations and one farther away if the neighborhood is inaccessible.
Every member of the family’s faculty or office tackle and cellphone quantity ought to be written down.
A transparent settlement on what to do when you can not attain one another: go to assembly level one, then two, then contact the out-of-state relay.
Write the data, print it, and put a replica in every member of the family’s go-bag or backpack.
Step 4: Run a Household Drill
The earthquake household drill covers three situations. First, the “Drop, Cowl, Maintain On” the place everybody in the home practices instantly dropping beneath a desk or in opposition to an inside wall, overlaying their neck and head, and holding on till the shaking stops. Second, evacuation from every room the place each grownup and older youngster ought to be capable of get out of the home, even when the conventional exit is blocked. Stroll by way of the secondary exit from every bed room. Third, rendezvous apply the place everybody walks to your designated assembly level as a household, so everybody is aware of precisely the place it’s. Actually, households who’ve drilled even as soon as reply quicker in precise emergencies than households who’ve solely examine preparedness.
Widespread Errors in Earthquake Preparedness
Having the app however not the plan. MyShake is the set off, however not the one merchandise you need to depend on. The seconds the app buys you’re solely helpful if your loved ones is aware of what to do with them.
Storing water within the flawed containers. Milk jugs, juice cartons, and skinny plastic bottles are usually not appropriate for long-term water storage. They degrade and permit contamination. As an alternative, use food-grade HDPE containers or commercially sealed water jugs.
Counting on cellphone calls after the occasion. Cell networks grow to be overloaded inside minutes of a serious earthquake. Textual content messages route extra simply than calls, so attain your out-of-state relay contact instantly.
Skipping the trauma package. An ordinary first-aid package is usually helpful for cuts and splinters. An earthquake can produce the form of accidents, together with extreme lacerations and crush trauma, that require a tourniquet and wound-packing provides. Pack these things.
Treating preparedness as a one-time buy. Water expires, batteries drain, medicines run out. Set a calendar reminder each 6 months to audit your package, rotate your water provide, and verify that each merchandise remains to be in place and practical.
Your First Step After Studying This
Obtain MyShake proper now if you have not but. Then decide one merchandise from Step 2 and add it to your buying record this week.
The analysis on household preparedness conduct reveals that the households who truly full their kits and plans are those who began with a single, low-friction motion and constructed from there.
April is California Earthquake Preparedness Month. The state authorities, Cal OES, and Prepared.gov are all pointing in the identical path: particular person and household readiness is the layer of safety that works when every thing else will get overwhelmed. Your loved ones’s plan is the one factor no infrastructure outage can take away from you.
Our full 72-hour emergency package information has each merchandise organized by precedence, with price range choices for every class. The entire package will be assembled for $150 to $200 for a household of 4 utilizing current home items plus focused purchases.
FAQs
What are essentially the most crucial gadgets to incorporate in a 72-hour earthquake package? The inspiration of a package consists of one gallon of water per individual per day in food-grade containers and a three-day provide of no-cook meals offering about 2,000 energy per grownup each day. In contrast to commonplace first-aid kits, a trauma-ready earthquake package also needs to embody a tourniquet, hemostatic gauze, and Israeli strain bandages to deal with crush accidents or extreme lacerations.
Why ought to my household communication plan embody an out-of-state contact? Native cellphone strains typically jam instantly following a serious earthquake, however textual content messages and out-of-state long-distance strains usually route extra simply. An out-of-state relative serves as a central “communication hub” the place separated members of the family can verify in and relay their standing.
What’s the right option to carry out a “Drop, Cowl, and Maintain On” drill? Individuals ought to instantly drop to their arms and knees, crawl beneath a sturdy desk for canopy, and maintain on to a desk leg till the shaking stops, defending their head and neck with their arms. This posture, as seen in practiced household drills, prevents you from being knocked down and shields you from falling particles like lighting fixtures or ceiling tiles.
How typically ought to I audit my emergency provides and earthquake plan? You must set a calendar reminder to audit your package each 6 months to rotate your water provide, verify for drained batteries, and change expiring prescription medicines. This ensures your 12 gallons of water stay uncontaminated and that your moveable chargers and emergency radios are practical earlier than a catastrophe strikes.
