Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Residents’ Quake Experiences to Be Videotaped at Expo

You can make home videos, dating videos and music videos, so why not quake-therapy videos?

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City officials are urging residents to talk Saturday about what happened to them in the Northridge earthquake as part of Santa Clarita’s annual Emergency Preparedness Expo. The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the River Oaks Shopping Center on Magic Mountain Parkway.

Organizers say they will videotape the three- to five-minute anecdotes for a possible Santa Clarita time capsule.

“We’re inviting residents to spend a few minutes sharing their experiences on videotape so that we have a historical record,” said Adele Macpherson, city emergency preparedness coordinator. “We think that telling their story is part of the community healing process and we encourage anyone who would like to tell their story to come to the event.”

City officials are using the expo as a forum to thank volunteers and emergency service agencies that assisted in Santa Clarita’s recovery from the 6.8-magnitude temblor. It is free and open to the public and includes information about what to do when disaster strikes and how to be self-sufficient for the following 72 hours.

The expo was planned before the Jan. 17 earthquake but interest in it has increased since the quake.

Participants will learn how to create a kit useful for the time that follows an earthquake, flood, fire or other major disaster.

Free bottled water will be distributed and several Santa Clarita drugstores, hardware stores, supermarkets and discount stores are marking the products that typically go into such kits, in conjunction with the expo.

Law enforcement, public and private emergency service agencies, utility companies and the American Red Cross are among those participating.