BAY AREA QUAKE : QUAKE DIARY : Crash Course in Survival Taught in the School of Hard Shocks

Earthquake questions on your mind, Southern California?

It has been a crash course in survival up here in the Bay Area. Most everyone has grown slightly wiser if not more wily about the ways of earthquakes in the last 10 days and 15 seconds. The school of hard knocks has produced a new crop of experts.

Here are some of their thoughts--and second thoughts--about life along the unstoppable San Andreas:

Which earthquake preparedness equipment is most essential, judging from this experience?

When the shaking stopped, darkness soon descended, complete and terrifying blackness. In an instant, the unprepared were driven back down the evolutionary ladder tens of thousands of years to that time when there was no light and no understanding.

So, don’t be too busy to stockpile a flashlight.

Even 24 hours later in San Francisco, power remained out in many areas. People who had light were kings.

A candle will not be your friend in a damaged building where there is a possibility of a natural gas leak.

Another weapon against fear and the unknown here was the battery-powered radio.

Luck plays a part in determining which, if any, stations survive. San Franciscans were lucky that their all-news radio station, KCBS, went off the air for less than a minute right after the quake. The station was fully staffed to cover the World Series and had three planes in the sky at the time. Its coverage probably did as much as anything to relieve anxiety and bind the region together.

Suppose you have done everything to prepare your house and family. You’ve bolted the house to the foundation. You’ve got water, food, first-aid kits and batteries. What else can you do?

Prepare yourself mentally.

It takes only a little time. You know yourself. In a panic, do you come apart? Do you withdraw? Have you thought about it?

One after the other, survivors who suffered minimal or no property damage said they were unready for the emotional shake.

Some of this can be minimized.

Emergency workers, government leaders and others practiced and “psyched” themselves for this inevitable moment. They rode a wave of emotional exhilaration in the aftermath. Many who did not prepare took flight or huddled in terror and darkness.

Survivors said Southern California is in for a real struggle for self-control. The quake will try to take yours away. Have you resolved how you will get it back?

Survivors said that if you simply drill into your mind forewarning of this challenge, you are apt to increase your chances of meeting it.

Remind yourself that you are probably going to survive and you will want to look back and be proud of, or at least not embarrassed by, how you handled it. It may be as simple as promising yourself you will show pluck and style.

Any other lesson on preparation from what happened here?

You might give thought to which of your possessions are most important. You will not necessarily be able to get them during the quake, but you’re apt to be disoriented and shaken when you go back in and attempt the first salvage.

Survivors in the Marina District, in some instances, were given only a few minutes to run in and collect what they needed from unsafe but still standing structures.

Some may now be questioning whether they made the best decisions on what to grab. Did I really need these five years of tax records? Was it a good idea to put breakables in a sack and heave them out the second-floor window?

What will be the worst part of surviving the earthquake?

Everyone knows of the special terror deep in the Earth, the long years of dread and then the dumbfounding bolt from the unknown.

When they dusted themselves off, survivors here said helpless separation from their families, friends and pets turned out to be the worst.

Not only did the highways again prove to be killers, they became barriers.

In Southern California with its epic commutes, family separation is apt to be profound in the event of a large regional temblor.

Survivors said a family emergency plan is easy to prepare and hugely reassuring. And one of its basic elements is for everyone in the family to acknowledge beforehand the likelihood of being isolated from each other. And everyone must resolve to trust each other to take care of themselves.

Is there anything good that comes out of it all?

In Japan, practitioners of Zen tell how they try to keep their lives vibrant and in perspective. On the way to work, they stand as close as they can alongside the commuter trains thundering by. And they contemplate: Look how close I am to death, only a couple of feet.

An artificial ritual, yes, but a way to remind yourself nonetheless. Life is fragile and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

To survive an earthquake is to experience enlightenment that you don’t need Zen to understand. Here is one of those profoundly authentic moments, frozen in time, that wells up before you and offers you a chance to see with fresh eyes and brilliant clarity the difference between important things and just things.

Is it proper to attend the opera, plan the World Series, see a football game or take in some other entertainment event in the immediate aftermath of a large disaster?

The answer seems to be yes. But it didn’t come easy here and not without some early guilt.

There is an unsettling capriciousness behind earthquakes--some neighborhoods ravaged, others untouched. Some workers make a fortune in emergency overtime. Others go broke for lack of business.

But that happens in other disasters too, like plane crashes or tornadoes or hurricanes. Life and its diversions usually resume quickly and unquestioningly.

What is different in this case, the real reason for hesitation, is the lingering dread inside each survivor. The skies do not clear and the storm does not blow past. No, there is another mighty quake down there and another after that. The question that keeps fear alive is: When? No one is truly free of the anxiety.

Against that, who can argue with something to make the survivors cheer or applaud, if for only a few hours?