THE EARTHQUAKE IN ORANGE COUNTY : Ready for Quake : School Kids Settle Down to Business

Though thousands of adults are expected to suffer some emotional distress following Thursday’s earthquake, Orange County children seem to be coping just fine, educators said Friday.

They attributed the children’s relative calm to frequent school drills in which kids are taught to “duck and cover” during a quake.

And, school officials said, children seemed to be dealing with the emotional aftershocks of a 6.1 earthquake better than their parents.

“They seemed to be very well prepared. We had many parents comment that the kids would tell them what to do and seemed to know more than the parents,” said Bill Calton, superintendent of the Cypress School District. The district, which has 3,450 elementary students, conducts four earthquake drills every school year.

Most children were at home or on their way to school when the quake occurred at 7:42 a.m. Thursday.

But if they went to school Thursday (and reportedly, in districts from Irvine to Los Alamitos, most children showed up) they were met by school psychologists, counselors and teachers, who encouraged them to talk about the quake. In some cases, children were asked to draw pictures and write essays about what had happened.

By Friday, it was business as usual at county schools, school officials said.

Several psychiatrists were predicting Friday that as much as one-fourth of the population would have symptoms of post-traumatic stress from the earthquake, but “we did not see it in the schools,” Calton said. “I can’t speak for what happens when they go home.”

Psychiatrists said children are expected to pick up cues from their parents--and other adults--about how to react during and after a quake. But at schools around the county, educators said, the cues that teachers gave included admonitions to stay calm and quiet discussions about the impact of the quake. Then it was lessons as usual Thursday afternoon and all day Friday.

“I did get a number of parents who stopped by Friday to tell how well trained their children were, that they knew what to do at home,” said Patricia Simmons, principal of Hopkinson Elementary School in Los Alamitos.

“Many times, before they (parents) would take cover, the children had done it automatically. One little boy told his baby sitter to take cover.”

At no time after the quake did any child or teacher at her school panic, Simmons said. “When we get a real big one, where things are flying all over, it will be different, but as long as adults remain calm,” the children should remain calm too, she said.

In Laura Maven’s third-grade class at Hopkinson, the 27 pupils wrote essays about the quake and drew pictures of what they had felt. Some of the pictures showed lamps swaying, little girls huddled under a doorway and small houses threatened by “a swirl, something that looks like a tornado,” Simmons said.

A sampling of the essays:

- “Yesterday we had an earthquake in Southern California. The earthquake is scare. We were eating breakfast when suddenly the earthquake came. It was wiggling. I was bouncing. My dog didn’t care. My lamp was going back and forth. My picture went sideways. My rocking chair went back and forth.”

- “It was a very big earthquake. I was in my room. It was very loud. My windows were rattling. Safety tips are important to remember in an earthquake. I stood in a doorway. You can duck and cover under a table. Then you should go outside.”

- “I was a sleep the hole time. My mom was taking a shower. She was shaving her legs. Suddenly the ground shook. She ran in my room and woke me up. Safety tips are important to remember during an earthquake. Remember to duck and cover. Stay calm. Run outside.”

- “I was in my brother’s room. My brother was downstairs. When the earthquake hit, I looked around and every thing was shaking. My mom was jest laying down watching TV. We all were at the top of the stairs and went downstairs. . . . Safety tips are important to remember in an earthquake. You should stand in a doorway. Or go outside in open space. Or get under a table and cover your eyes and your neck. Most of all be calm and don’t yell and scream.”

The drawings and essays “gave children a chance to talk about their concerns and to review what they should do in an earthquake,” Simmons said. In early morning classes Thursday, teachers encouraged children to share their feelings about the quake. By midday Thursday, “many of them had forgotten about it, (and by Friday) I heard very little. I walked through the classrooms and it was very calm, very ordinary.”

Though some parents kept their children at home after the earthquake Thursday, on Friday just two children were kept home, Simmons said, adding, “It’s healthier for children to be back in school and to resume a normal routine--much more comforting.”

Also Friday, a UC Irvine cardiologist predicted that heart attacks in the Los Angeles area may increase by up to 30% over the next few days. Dr. Michael Brodsky, director of the arrhythmia service at the UC Irvine Medical Center, said his own research and a Greek study from a 1981 Athens earthquake suggest that the severe stress of a quake can trigger heart attacks.

He urged cardiac patients and their physicians to take seriously any complaints of palpitations or general malaise after Thursday’s quake. Cardiac patients should be evaluated immediately if they show such symptoms, Brodsky said.

Also Friday, Stephen J. Howard, a psychologist at the San Fernando Valley Child Guidance Center and the author of “Coping With Children’s Reaction to an Earthquake and Other Disasters,” had several hints for parents if their children seem worried about the quake:

- Explain to the child what an earthquake is and involve him in preparing for a repeat temblor. Discussing the topic does not increase fear but makes the child feel more secure.

- Talk about the child’s feelings and encourage him to swap stories with friends and neighbors. Don’t lie that you weren’t frightened. “We are all frightened, and saying, ‘Come on, it’s no big deal’ is a mistake because it makes the child think there’s something wrong with him that he’s afraid.” Asking your child to draw a picture of the earthquake is a good way to get into such a discussion.

- Get busy and resume normal activity.

Mental health professionals say most people will regain their equilibrium by next week--and suggest that people should make preparations for another quake before the fears evaporate.

In a recent survey of 3,500 Californians, UCLA sociologist Ralph Turner found that while nearly all believed a big earthquake is coming and that it will do widespread damage, even those who had been through a previous quake aren’t worried. They persist in the belief that it will hit “somebody else” and continue to avoid planning to protect themselves or their homes.

Times staff writer Lois Timnick contributed to this story.