Experts Ponder How to Deal With Big Quake Along Border

Amid the elegant ambiance of the Hotel del Coronado, experts from the United States and Mexico gathered Friday to discuss a frightening scenario: an earthquake along the U.S.-Mexico border.

There was much bureaucratic jargon and recitations of prepared speeches, but behind the dry comments was the disturbing reality. While any major earthquake in a populated area is a potential disaster, a big one striking the densely populated San Diego-Tijuana area--where there are a number of major fault lines--would pose vast problems of international coordination. Some questions:

How would emergency assistance vehicles cross the border?

What special provisions would be needed to transport injured people from one side of the border to the other?

How is it possible to avoid a rush to the international boundary by panicky foreign nationals eager to return home?

All agreed that increased cooperation by officials on both sides is necessary to begin to grapple with such thorny questions.

Coordination Vital

“One of the lessons of the 1985 earthquake (in Mexico) is the importance of coordination,” said Enrique Taboada Ortiz, director of systems for the Mexican Interior Ministry’s National System of Civil Protection.

Improving that coordination--and, ultimately, drafting some formal mutual emergency assistance plans--is the aim of a group known as the United States-Mexico Earthquake Preparedness Project. The project, composed of federal, state and local officials from both nations, is attempting to reduce the border area’s vulnerability in case of an earthquake. Various groups have been meeting for about three years to discuss the topic.

“When you’re talking about something as serious as an earthquake, the border is a meaningless line,” noted Daniel J. Eberle, director of the Office of Disaster Preparedness for the County of San Diego.

Eberle was among the more than 300 seismologists, geologists, emergency planners and government officials associated with the project who met here on Friday to discuss recent developments in U.S.-Mexico border quake preparedness. Among the more hands-on participants were John Delotch, chief of the San Diego Fire Department, and Alfonso Esquer Sandez, fire chief from Mexicali.

All agreed that they have a long way to go.

Lots of Red Tape

“There’s a lot of red tape working against us,” said Paul Flores, director of the Southern California Earthquake Preparedness Project, a group jointly funded by the state of California and the federal government.

The reality is that a strong earthquake hitting the San Diego-Tijuana area could cause hundreds, perhaps thousands of casualties. Freeways could be damaged, airports closed, electrical and telephone service disrupted.

At the border, it is possible that an earthquake could paralyze the international crossing at San Ysidro--called the world’s busiest port of entry, with more than 100,000 people crossing daily. How to minimize chaos at the crossing--and allow emergency vehicles to pass quickly--is a major dilemma being examined.

Apart from dealing with this and other questions, project participants have also attempted to identify existing medical and emergency supply resources for potential future use. For instance, experts noted that emergency equipment from San Diego could be helpful in rescuing victims trapped in rubble in Tijuana. Mexican officials also offered their assistance to the U.S. side of the border.

The ultimate goal is to make recommendations that will lessen the impact of a disaster. Of course, such recommendations will have to be approved by the respective government agencies--the U.S. State Department and the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As the proposals have yet to be formally presented, officials said, final approval is still a long way in the future.

The hope is that all the planning and the various meetings will leave officials on both sides of the border better prepared should disaster strike. “Ultimately,” said Eberle, “we’re talking about saving lives.”