Irvine Quake Expo Helps Visitors Size Up the Big One : Temblors: The fifth annual event at the Civic Center offers display booths, lectures on safety precautions and rescue demonstration.

If Angela (Bay) Buchanan knows one thing for sure about earthquakes, it’s that she isn’t prepared for one. So on Saturday, Buchanan and her three young sons decided to forgo the beach or park or swimming pool and hit the fifth annual Great Quake Day Expo at the Irvine Civic Center.

With the boys in tow, Buchanan combed dozens of display booths, checking out the various quake safety kits and gadgets, eyeing videotapes and plucking up literature detailing precautions for that fateful day the Big One hits.

“I always wondered in the back of my mind what I should do,” Buchanan noted after surveying the scene. “I definitely wasn’t prepared before. But now I think I can get prepared if I take a few steps at a time. This was well worth my time.”

Buchanan, a political consultant who was the GOP contender for state treasurer last year, was among scores of local residents who flocked to the Civic Center for the event. They checked out the various earthquake-preparedness products, listened to lectures on safety precautions and watched a demonstration by an Orange County rescue team and an El Toro Marine base helicopter crew.

The exposition also provided the perfect forum for trading a vintage Southern California commodity--earthquake stories.

Mo Kahn of Irvine recalled the day he was flying out of the San Jose Airport when the powerful Loma Prieta earthquake started shaking the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989. Kahn’s jet was just making its takeoff roll when the ground started moving. The pilot quickly brought the plane to a halt.

It would be two hours before it was cleared again to take off.

“The pilot assured us that it wasn’t a bump in the road,” Kahn noted.

Roger Hall is a Midwest transplant who has lived in quake country about six years. He experienced his first temblor during the Whittier Narrows earthquake of 1987. Suffice to say, it was an experience he’ll never forget.

“I was in my car,” said Hall, who lives in Irvine. “I thought my engine had dropped out. Then I turned it off and the car was still shaking. Yeah, you remember that.”

As a result, Hall bought an earthquake safety kit. He’s strapped the water heater to a wall. Still, Hall admits he’s “probably not as prepared as I should be, though I’m not bad.”

Indeed, earthquake experts suspect someone such as Hall has taken more precautions than most people.

Only one in five Californians are prepared to survive the aftermath of a major earthquake, estimates Joe Foraker, an earthquake-preparedness consultant who has advised more than 200 firms.

Foraker figures residents of the Bay Area, with its harrowing earthquake just a few years ago, are far better prepared than most in Southern California. Southern Californians, if anything, are big on earthquake denial.

For proof, he pointed at the relatively sparse crowd at Saturday’s earthquake expo.

“Oh, the apathy is terrible,” Foraker said, surveying the light turnout. “In years past many more people turned out for this event. . . . I can’t help but believe it will take a major earthquake of Mexico City dimensions to make people aware.”

For his part, Foraker is trying to fight such public apathy by marketing books and newsletters. His latest idea is a handout called the “Earthquake Tip of the Week.” He hopes various firms will subscribe to the weekly bulletin, posting it on bulletin boards or distributing photocopies to employees.

“The idea is to prevent apathy from settling in, to keep people talking about earthquakes and preparedness instead of not discussing it for eight or nine months at a time,” Foraker said.

“People don’t like thinking about earthquakes because they scare us,” suggested Lawson, vice president of an East Los Angeles firm that markets earthquake-preparedness kits. “It’s like buying life insurance. We don’t like thinking about death, so we don’t deal with it. But the best thing a family can do is prepare.”

A few tips from the experts:

* When an earthquake hits, get to some place safe, such as under a sturdy table, in a doorway or hallway away from falling objects. Don’t run from a shaking building. You’re more likely to fall and hurt yourself, or be hit by debris falling from the building.

* If you’re in bed, stay there. Pull the covers or a pillow over your head to protect against falling debris.

* A car can be a perfect refuge in a quake. Although it may be bouncing like a pogo stick, you’re better off inside than trying to get out. You could be hit by the vehicle or falling debris. Come to a stop after you are safely out from under any overpasses.

* Prepare a safety kit or buy one of the many varieties on the market. It should include blankets, first-aid supplies, flashlight and transistor radio, dried food and water.

* Keep a wrench in a plastic bag by the gas meter. Foraker suggests turning it off only if you smell the telltale rotten egg odor of natural gas seeping from a leak.