What Makes ‘Em Quake? Year 2000 : Disasters: Temblors cause only a temporary stir. But Y2K has folks preparing for the worst.

A year ago, Orange County emergency workers were canceling some classes that taught residents how to prepare for earthquakes and other disasters. Few people were signing up.

Today, classes are overflowing at Red Cross facilities, and sales have grown at stores selling disaster preparedness kits.

What has prompted this new disaster awareness? It’s the approach of the Y2K computer bug, said Red Cross officials.

Will there be electricity? Will there be food and water? Will we be living in tents and on rations after the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve?

“With an earthquake, it may or may not come, and it may or may not affect them. Although people don’t know what will happen, Y2K is coming,” said David Lebanoff of Earthquake Preparedness Products in Anaheim.

Almost any disaster preparation is good, said Judy Iannaccone, spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Santa Ana. “If nothing happens, at least they’ll be better prepared for an earthquake.”

The number of people taking Red Cross classes, she said, has more than doubled in the past year from 1,647 to 3,722.

Lebanoff and Tom Rainey, vice president of Emergency Lifeline Corp. in Santa Ana, say sales have been picking up. “But as a percentage of people living in Orange County, it’s very small,” Lebanoff said.

Rainey said that after a disaster, residents and business operators need some basic equipment--more than a first-aid kit. Food, water, lighting and medical supplies for severe injuries will be required, he said.

“So many people have the idea that if there’s a problem, they can call 911. In the event of an areawide disaster, there’s a high probability that 911 won’t work,” he said.

Once the threat of an imminent disaster--whether Y2K or earthquake--has lessened, residents will likely return to their complacent views on preparedness, the emergency experts say. Even the more than 14,000 killed in Turkey’s quake last month don’t seem to register at home, they said.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake delivered the message to Janine Perez when it knocked pictures off walls and sent bookcases tumbling in her Santa Clarita house. A block wall collapsed, the natural gas line broke and her boyfriend was almost trapped in a room because the door was blocked by fallen debris.

After enduring subsequent days without gas, electricity and water, Perez stocked food and water and realized the importance of stowing earthquake kits in her home and car and securing heavy objects.

But five years later, she’s still just thinking about doing it.

“I’m lazy. I know that I have to do it,” said Perez, 27, who now lives in another Santa Clarita house. “It’s not on my priority of things to do.”

Experts say most residents in quake-prone Southern California have shown little more than a lackadaisical attitude about preparing for impending temblors.

“The pattern we’ve seen historically is that immediately after an earthquake, for about six months people get really interested,” said Peggy Brutsche, director of disaster services for the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the American Red Cross.

“Then it just tapers off. Other concerns start to become more important in other people’s lives again.”

Fire officials in Orange and Los Angeles counties say interest in preparedness classes tapers off after a disaster and stays low until the next one hits.

After the magnitude 6.7 Northridge quake, thousands of residents either inquired about or enrolled in survival training or preparedness classes, said Capt. Steve Martin of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. But now, inquiries have dropped to about 200 requests a month.

“It’s kind of human nature,” said Martin. “If it doesn’t happen for a long time, you don’t think about it.”

Scott Brown, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority, said that emergency workers aren’t trying to “spread panic.”

“We’re trying to educate the public,” Brown said. “The three threats we continuously live with are earthquake, fire and flood. These are absolutes when you live in California. That’s why we consistently remind people that they need to be prepared to take care of themselves for up to 72 hours.”

Surveys conducted from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s by UCLA’s Institute for Social Science Research found that people are most likely to make the easy preparations, such as storing water, buying a flashlight or storing some canned goods, said Dr. Linda Bourque, professor in public health and associate director of UCLA’s Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief.

Hazard mitigation is usually undertaken by people who are older, have children and own their own home, she said.

Families with fewer resources tend to be less prepared, said Dr. Kimberley Shoaf, research director for the Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief at UCLA. “The result is that it is sometimes harder for those same families to recover from the quake because of difficulty replacing things,” said Shoaf.

Earthquake survival kits usually consist of food, water, flashlights and first-aid supplies. More elaborate kits include camping equipment, such as stoves and portable radios. Prices range from $16.95 up to about $200.

At Major Surplus and Survival Inc., an emergency supply store in Gardena, about half of the customers want Y2K supplies, said Fred Morris, store manager, who believes that many have the “head-in-the-sand” approach when it comes to earthquake preparedness.

Seismic retrofit businesses report a continuing stream of customers for such work as foundation bolting. But much of that major work is prompted by the prospect of lower property insurance rates, according to Ed Silvis at Seismic Safety Inc., based in Pasadena.

In many other areas of personal quake preparation, Southern Californians may be so overwhelmed by warnings and information that they do not know where to start, suggested April Kelcy, earthquake consultant at Earthquake Solutions, a disaster preparedness business in Pasadena.

Diane Davis of Arcadia, who attended one of Kelcy’s seminars, found the guidance helpful in determining which survival products she needed, what quantities of food and water to have on hand and how to secure heavy objects in her home.

“I feel very good about having made a really good start,” said Davis, who has seen few of her friends doing such preparation. “It seems to me that there are some people that are being too casual about it, and I would err on the side of being over-prepared.”

But most people don’t want to deal with the need to take precautions, said Dennis Mileti, director of the Natural Hazard Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“Most people can’t, from a psychological point of view, think that their friends and loved ones are going to get injured,” said Mileti.

“The average citizen is consumed with dealing with life as it occurs on a daily basis--keeping food on the table and the toilets flushing and kids clothed. There isn’t a whole lot of room for things that might not happen.”

For more information:

Red Cross: (714) 835-5381.

Orange County Fire: (714) 744-0496.