Survival Course Short of Goal : Safety: The Red Cross had hoped to train 25,000 in earthquake preparedness workshops by the end of this month. But only 3,113 people have signed up so far.

Despite all the free publicity provided by the Upland earthquake in February, the local Red Cross has managed to attract only a fraction of the 25,000 people it had hoped to train in quake survival by the end of the month.

“People just aren’t coming out for it,” said Bonnie Sloan, emergency services director for the American Red Cross, Pasadena chapter. “The numbers have not increased after the February 28 (Upland) quake.”

The Red Cross chapter set its goal of reaching 25,000 people after the San Francisco Bay Area earthquake last October that claimed 60 lives and injured more than 3,000 residents.

The chapter’s self-imposed deadline is the end of April, which is California Earthquake Preparedness Month.

But so far, only 3,113 people have shown up for training sessions. The Pasadena office, which has 32 paid staffers, serves 10 San Gabriel Valley communities, from La Canada Flintridge to Temple City.

To publicize its efforts, the chapter sent flyers home with schoolchildren and advertised through posters and newspapers. It has also increased its corps of volunteer instructors from 11 to 71; held 33 workshops in March, and scheduled 45 for April, compared to a total of about eight during the same months last year.

Among those who did respond is Pacific Scientific, a Duarte manufacturer of firefighting equipment. The Red Cross held workshops there last week for the firm’s 240 employees.

In a major quake, “you have no place you can really turn to except yourself,” said Larry Constantino, Pacific Scientific safety manager, who said employee confusion after the Upland quake prompted managers to request the presentations at the firm.

Volunteers show videos and hand out a variety of quake preparedness and survival information during the free, 90-minute workshops. If people cannot attend the sessions at Red Cross headquarters on Madeline Drive, the organization will make presentations to groups of 10 or more at other locations.

Sloan emphasizes that simple planning can make a world of difference in a disaster.

“In San Francisco, nobody was prepared, and psychologically it caused a great deal of distress,” she said. Many had failed to make contingency earthquake plans, and were disoriented and confused about where to go when their homes were wrecked, Sloan said. Others suffered needlessly when they found themselves temporarily without personal items such as extra glasses or medications.

“If they’d had a change of clothes in the back of the car or at work they would have felt a lot better,” she added.

Despite the tepid public response to the classes, instructor Virginia Kimball believes earthquake awareness is on the rise.

“People used to say, ‘Well, if my number’s up, it’s up,’ ” she said. “They are beginning to realize that what they can do is significant in terms of quality of survival.”

Kimball said living through the 1971 Sylmar quake opened her eyes to the importance of preparation.

“I cleaned up by moving a trash can into the kitchen and shoveling,” she recalled. “And I realized a lot of our damage could’ve been prevented.”

Regardless of how many people are eventually reached, Pasadena chapter Chairman Kent Lawrence said the effort will “drastically increase” preparedness in general.

“I don’t believe we’ll have trained 25,000 (by the end of month), but it’s not frustrating because we’ll have saved 3,000 lives,” Sloan said. “We’ll know they will survive with a minimum of distress.”