"Effects of an Earthquake in Your Disaster Plan" "The Northridge Quake of 1994 and Disaster Preparedness Program Planning for Laboratory Animal Care Facilities"

Kimberly Overhulse, California State Polytechnic University Pomona

Contents: Response Team - Procure Supplies - Response Plan - Evacuation Plan - Earthquake Facts Disaster Plan

On January 18th, 1994, at 4:30 A.M., an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck in Northridge, California.

This earthquake had major impact on the structure of the California State University Northridge campus. Due to the severity of the damages and the recurrent after shocks, the campus was shut down to all personnel. The research animals on campus were trapped in the buildings for 12 days before arrangements for transfer could be made and emergency personnel could rescue the animals and transport them to the Cal Poly Pomona facility. Based on this premise, think through the typical hazards faced in your area.

Develop an Emergency Response Team:

1. Make officials on the emergency response team aware of the plan needed.
2. Have animal care staff member(s) assigned to your institutions emergency response team.
3. Train staff in Emergency procedures and hazardous materials handling.

Procure supplies:

1. For temporary losses: store water and get a back up generator or battery operated lights and space heaters or fans.
2. Keep a store of emergency filter bonnets to cover cages in transit.
3. Set aside an emergency euthanasia kit.

Develop a disaster response plan:

1. If the building is restricted to access for a term longer than 1 week, the animals should be removed to another facility or euthanized to prevent starvation, dehydration, or animal suffering.
2. If possible arrange for another, off-site facility to provide back up housing. Have a representative of the off-site facility knowledgeable of your emergency response team members, evacuation plan, and contacts. Have your Animal Care and Use Committee give this person authority to take over animal care and when necessary, euthanasia.

Prepare an evacuation plan:

1. Prioritize your animals (replaceable, irreplaceable).
2. Prepare an emergency contact system of home phone numbers to be kept by the facility manager and the head of the animal care and use committee and someone at the emergency relief facility, be sure to include USDA numbers.
3. Prepare for an emergency transport vehicle preferably from the safe area.
4. Have a monthly review of your emergency list and emergency supplies.
5. Develop scenarios, for emergencies such as, partial destruction, total destruction, loss of utilities, toxic spills, biological hazards, etc.

In the case of California State University Northridge, they were fortunate enough to have had a member of the emergency response team aware of the animals being housed on campus. The animals received food and water for two weeks following the earthquake. Due to the danger of remaining in the buildings for extended periods cage changing was not performed. Only 5 animals died out of over 200. Unfortunately, there was no disaster plan relating to the animals, no one from the animal care program could be contacted. There was no evacuation plan for the animals. But even with this barrier to overcome, the administrative officials responded to the animals needs as soon as their attention was drawn to the situation and allowed at Poly to arrange for the animals reolocation. I believe that this shows how important it is to have outside contacts, persons who will have a copy of the evacuation plans and a census of animals and their locations. Although a disaster preparedness program will not prevent interruption of research projects, it may save valuable animal resources.

An example of this is the colony of captive bred Deer Mice maintained at the California State University Campus for over 20 years. With the current problem with Hantavirus, these animals could prove most valuable to researchers across the state.

On January 17th, 1994 at 4:30 a.m., an earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck in Northridge California. This earthquake had major impact in Los Angeles County. Fortunately, due to the time of day and the fact that it was a holiday, the number of people out and about was below normal. Specifically the number of freeway commuters.

The California State University Northridge campus was near the earthquakes epicenter, and a lot of different types of damage occurred across the campus. The columns to the campus library cracked and twisted and there was still a danger of debris falling from the building frontage. The chemistry buildings suffered from chemical fires, making entry into these areas a hazardous risk. The student parking structure collapsed in on itself.

Due to the severity of the damages and the recurrent after shocks, the campus was shut down to all but emergency personnel.   The research animals on campus were trapped in the animal facilities for 12 days before emergency personnel could recover them. The time delay had as much to do with testing building integrity as it had to do with a communications breakdown. The emergency response administrators had no contingency plan for animal recovery. Fortunately, the animals were found during building assessment inspections and emergency rescue workers checked the animals frequently prior to recovery. The basic knowledge of the rescue crew told them that the water may not be potable so they provided Gatorade to the animals.

It took 16 hours to recover and relocate all of the cages from the animal facilities at CSU Northridge and Cal Poly Pomona. The cages were dirty and many bottles were nearly empty, but most of the animals had survived. There was no plan in place for the management and transfer of the animals from the Northridge campus. The severity of the damage to the animal facilities required that the animals remain at the Cal Poly campus for 8 months, and the final transfer of animals to the Northridge campus was not completed until two years after the quake. Because the main focus was on the care of the animals from the Northridge campus, there was no funding agreement between the two campuses. While an agreement was finally reached it would have been a much simpler process had it been done prior to the incident.

Earthquake Facts and Information Deep underground, a fault that has been storing strain suddenly ruptures, releasing the stresses like a spring uncoiling. This pumps seismic waves into the surrounding rock. Earthquake! The underground starting point of the earthquake is called the "focus." The waves travel outward in all directions from the quake's focus. Two kinds of waves are shown here: P-waves, or primary waves, and S-waves, or secondary waves. (P-waves compress the rock through which they travel, while S-waves distort its shape or shear it.) Here, P-waves are red and S-waves are blue. Following an earthquake, the body waves strike first. The fastest kind are the primary waves, or P-waves. People often report a sound like a train just before they feel a quake, which is the P-wave moving as an acoustic wave in the air. Then the secondary, or S-waves, arrive. A person in a building perceives the arrival of S-waves as a sudden powerful jolt, as if a giant has pounded his fist down on the roof. Finally, the surface waves strike. In very strong earthquakes, the up-and-down and back-and-forth motions caused by surface waves can make the ground appear to roll like the surface of the ocean, and can literally topple buildings over.

Primary waves travel faster. Another difference is that P-waves can travel through fluid, although they are slowed by it, but S-waves cannot travel through fluid. Therefore, only P-waves can travel through the molten core of the earth. The S-waves bounce off the core. (Some P-waves are also deflected by the core.)   At 20 minutes post-rupture, even the slower S-waves have traveled through the mantle completely around the world, though none have been able to go straight through the middle.

All seismic waves weaken with increasing distance, however, so people on the other side of the earth from the epicenter do not experience ground shaking! Seismic energy travels through the crust in the form of waves. There are two basic kinds of seismic waves: body waves and surface waves. Body waves travel outward in all directions, including downward, from the quake's focus. Surface waves, by contrast, are confined to the upper few hundred miles of the crust. They travel parallel to the surface, like ripples on the surface of a pond. They are also slower than body waves.

While faults are the areas where pressure builds up they only affect the earthquake in that the type of fault determines the motion of the quake. With a strike slip fault the earth shifts parallel to the surface. A normal fault shifts but rupturing downward. With a thrust fault the ground ruptures upward.  Liquefaction is a phenomenon that occurs when the seismic waves run through underground water. The water blends with the earth and liquefies the soil (mud). Structures in and area of liquefaction can sink into the ground several feet. Myths • The earth will not crack open and swallow you • California will not fall into the ocean • Quakes are not limited to regions There are a few myths that should be dispelled at this point. Unlike in the movies, the earth will not crack open and swallow large areas. The only reason that the ground would split is that there is no support beneath, an example might be in a cave of a subway system or pipeline. California is not destined to fall into the ocean. The continental shelf is not deep enough for the landmass the size of California (even LA) to fall into it. Also the continental shelf is not at all unstable and is not capable of cracking off. Earthquakes are not limited to specific regions of the world. While it is true that there are areas that are more prone to earthquake, an earthquake can happen anywhere around the world.

Plan Ahead:  Assess Potential Damage As you can see these storage shelves practically exploded onto the floor. And is a good demonstration for being sure to place heavy equipment on the bottom shelves. In California it is recommended to bracket shelf units to the walls and to have a lip around the shelf edges to prevent objects from falling off.

 

Because of the strong jolt and the rolling wave motion that occurs during an earthquake it is better not to lock the cage rack wheels. If the rack is left to roll it shifts with the floor and the animal cages will remain in place. Secure heavy equipment such as refrigerators and gas cylinders by strapping them to the wall. It is now required that gas cylinders have two straps securing them to the wall surface. This is recommended so that the cylinder does not twist and slip out from under the strap.

Develop a Disaster Plan

Select back up animal care facilities:

Select an on-site facility that may serve to maintain animals for extended periods. Look for an area that the animals can easily be transported to and that can meet minimum animal care standards, including sanitation areas.

Secure an off-site facility that may provide housing or humane disposal of your animals. Another research facility in your region may be willing to temporarily house your animals. Try to find more than one site because the site closest to you may be out of commission too. Work out agreements with the facilities for carcass disposal or euthanasia services.

Now that you have a designated off-site facility prepare a member of this facility with information on:
•  Who your emergency response team members are.
•   What the evacuation plan is for your facility.
•   Provide emergency contact numbers, for your institution to your off-site fellows.

In preparation for an emergency
•  Prioritize your animals, are they Replaceable or Irreplaceable.
•  Keep that list of emergency contacts with the facility manager,the chair of the IACUC, and a designee from the offsite facility
•  Arrange for emergency transport ahead of time.
•  Will you be able to use an institutional vehicle?
•  Can you make arrangements with a local moving company to secure a vehicle?
•  Regularly review your program and supplies.

For temporary Loss of utilities procure back up support: Lighting: battery operated lanterns that are designed to run for 12 hours without a recharge. heating or cooling- electric heaters and fans: Some of these units come with ionic air cleaners as well. battery operated. All the better! Water storage: keep clean water in storage barrels. Keep the storage barrels in a couple of different areas of your institution, perhaps an exterior storage shed. Be sure you have the ability to purify the water before use. You can use water purification tablets made for this purpose. Another option is to maintain a supply of gel packs, like the ones used for shipping animals, these are easy to store and are a purified resource. The downside is that they do have a shelf life. Filter bonnets: keep a supply of filter bonnets to protect the cages in case you need to transfer them from the facility. With loss of utilities exceeding 1 week, you will need to consider relocation or euthanasia of the animals.

 

Conclusion:

Disaster preparedness will not prevent interruption of research projects.
Disaster preparedness can save valuable animal resources.
Disaster preparedness can not cover all of the possibilities.
Disaster preparedness can save human life and prevent animal suffering.

I would like to thank Dr. John Young from Cedars-Sinai Medical center for providing me with many of the photos in this presentation. The Savage Earth web-site has some really fine animation on the “Anatomy and Physiology” of an Earthquake (www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/animations/earthquakes/main.html ). The Incorporated Research Institution for Seismology ( www.iris.washington.edu/), and the United States Geological Survey.

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