Families Get Ready for Next Quake by Buying Emergency Gear, Food

Camping equipment usually isn’t a blockbuster seller at the Grant Boys in Costa Mesa in October when children are back in school, salesman Brian Henley said Saturday. This October is different.

Since Thursday’s earthquake, Henley has moved flashlights, camp stoves, lanterns, first aid kits, freeze dried food and water purification tablets.

At Bushwackers camping supply store in Laguna Beach Saturday, co-owner Terry Tannenbaum hadn’t exactly been making a fortune from his $39.95 earthquake preparedness kits, one of which had sat in the front window for two months. On Saturday, they were nearly sold out.

“Before the quake they were a slow-moving item,” he said. “They just sat there until people were scared into buying them.”

Brisk Business

Around Orange County, other stores have experienced brisk business in survival goods such as bottled water, flashlights and batteries since Thursday’s 6.1 temblor.

At the Army-Navy Store on Glassell Street in Orange, store co-owner Steve Alvarez said he has had a run on water purification tablets, Sterno fuel, flashlights and water containers.

“A lot of people come in and say that they’d been planning to get these earthquake things together, but they hadn’t been able to get their act together until the quake hit,” Alvarez said.

Appreciating the potential, store manager David O’Brien Saturday was putting together a prototype of an earthquake preparedness kit that he hopes to start selling later this week for $39.98. Crammed into a day pack was an emergency blanket, dried foods, and other goods that O’Brien said would provide subsistence for two people for three days.

Jump in Sales

At Long Beach Surplus in Westminster, owner Tony Alvarez said he has seen a 20% jump in sales of first aid kits, batteries, candles and water tablets and other survival items.

“It’s mostly families that are coming in to make sure they’re stocked up for the next quake,” Alvarez said.

Laura Valle, supervisor at REI mountaineering equipment and supply store in Orange, said nearly 30 people have asked for the free pamphlets about how to prepare for earthquakes.

Freeze-dried food that can be made instantly has been popular at North Face in Santa Ana, said saleswoman Susan Furtaw.

And at the 7-Eleven Food Store on West Lambert Road in Brea, the manager said the demand for bottled water has been so great since the earthquake that he started stocking it on an extra shelf.