San Clemente Outlines Plans in Case of Earthquake

In light of the record number of earthquakes centered in the Imperial Valley and felt throughout Southern California over the weekend, Patch asked San Clemente's emergency planner Jen Tucker to outline how the city has planned to respond in the event of a major earthquake in town.

She said even in the heat of summer when San Clemente's population has swelled with tourists, plans wouldn't change appreciably; the extent of the damage caused by the hypothetical earthquake would dictate how emergency responders proceeded, rather than the number of people in town.

In an emergency, everything is fluid—even where the city would open emergency shelters.

"I've been in conversations with people who ask, 'Why don't you pre-publish the locations of shelters?" Tucker said. "If the building is damaged or in the path of a hazard, I don't want people showing up there."

The instructions to residents and visitors in the event of a radiological disaster involving the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station would depend on conditions as well.

Wind is taking a potential plume of radioactive particles out to sea or anywhere else, depending on the weather, and rain would also have an effect, Tucker said.

Orders could be to evacuate immediately or to shelter in place for a time with windows and doors shut tight.

And order your stocks of potassium iodide if you're a resident of San Clemente, she said. The supplement helps protect your thyroid from radioactive damage isn't planned for distribution in the city in the event of a nuclear emergency; it's available at the planned decontamination center at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

The supplement is available to all residents through the city of San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.

As far as responding to major earthquake damage, Tucker said she doesn't forsee wide-spread destruction as a result of a quake.

"We have very good [building] codes in California, so a scenario in which we would have widespread building collapse is hard to generate," Tucker said.

Still, the Orange County Fire Authority's Urban Search and Rescue Team 5 would be the specialized responders who would coordinate the efforts to pull people out of the wreckage.

Tucker said the OCFA's team is set up to operate completely independent of outside food or supplies for as long as two weeks.

Residents should have items and plans in place to help themselves and their families through a disaster.

After the tsunami that ravaged Japan last year, , the county’s emergency planning official with the Sheriff’s Department. She said residents should look to the ReadyOC website for a comprehensive list of items that every household should have on hand in case of an earthquake or other disaster.

A three-day supply of food and water, matches, flashlights, candles, a hand-crank radio, a first-aid kit and other supplies all belong in

More important than supplies, Boston said, is to have a plan that everyone knows about and understands. Make sure pets are included in food and water supply calculations and make a place for family members to meet if one or more aren’t home at the time of the disaster. Residents are also advised to create a phone tree for extended family members.

Boston said phone lines are often jammed during an emergency but that texting and email networks typically remain functional. It may be faster and easier to text loved ones.