Had It Been the Big One, Officials Were Ready to Act

When the 4.6 earthquake struck Friday, Orange County emergency response officials reacted as if it had been the Big One.

Radios were switched on for news updates. Phone calls were placed to county police and fire agencies for preliminary damage assessments. Lists were drawn showing which county officials were on duty and where. And preparations were made to activate the county’s Emergency Operations Center, the disaster response command post equipped with sophisticated radio and computer equipment and situated underground in the Civic Center complex in Santa Ana.

The initial reports were of cracked windows, fallen pictures and frayed nerves. There was no news of major damage or serious injuries as a result of the sharp jolt at 1:07 p.m.

Within half an hour, county emergency personnel concluded that damage from the quake was more psychological than physical, and by 2 p.m. officials in the county’s Emergency Management Division had decided not to open the special command post.

Friday’s shake had not been the Big One.

“When an earthquake hits, you have no idea how far you are from the epicenter, so we always proceed as if it is the Big One,” said Christine Boyd, manager of the Emergency Management Division, the disaster-planning wing of the county Fire Department and the body that makes many of the initial decisions about the level of county response to a crisis.

Questions Remain

“Within an hour,” Boyd said, “it became clear to us that the county had weathered the quake pretty much intact.”

What would have happened, however, had Friday’s temblor been the long-predicted major-magnitude event? Is the county adequately prepared to deliver personnel, supplies and equipment on a moment’s notice to the hardest-hit areas? Can the county effectively and efficiently coordinate such a relief operation? And who is ultimately responsible for making those decisions?

Boyd said no one really knows whether Orange County or any other local government body has done enough to prepare for the extent of devastation forecasted for the Big One.

Preparations Described

“What’s enough? I don’t think you can ever realistically answer that question,” Boyd said. “The specter of the Big One is so overwhelming, the predictions of damage so enormous, that I don’t believe there is any jurisdiction in California that is 100% prepared for this.”

Orange County officials believe, however, that they have made great strides in the past 2 years to make the public aware of the risks that accompany a powerful earthquake and to map out a strategy to respond to the calamity.

The county is about a year into its 4-year plan to buy emergency supplies such as blankets and food rations for all county employees. Last week, officials unveiled what they described as an unprecedented government program to train a cadre of doctors to provide emergency care after an earthquake. Such an effort, it is hoped, could prevent hundreds of of deaths. In addition, brochures distributed free to the public through county offices outline ways to respond in the home to an earthquake.

Should an earthquake cause widespread damage and injuries, Boyd said, her agency would open the Emergency Operations Center. With that, a panel of key county officials--including the county administrative officer, the sheriff, the fire chief and department heads--would convene there to direct and monitor responses to the disaster. They would deploy county crews and equipment, and they would decide whether to seek state or federal disaster assistance.

The center has been partly activated three times since 1983. In March of that year, and again in January of 1988, heavy rains caused widespread flooding. The center also was activated in October, 1987, after the 5.9 Whittier quake. That temblor caused one death and $11 million in damage to 11 Orange County communities.

Boyd said Friday that the county was lucky that the quake did not knock out phone lines, which made it much easier for officials to quickly determine the extent of damage.

“If the phones or radios had gone down, it would have been very difficult to get a handle on what had happened,” Boyd said. “We were fortunate. But you never know about the next time.”