A major earthquake has not hit major cities in California in three decades. On Thursday, we will get an idea of

A major earthquake has not hit other major California cities in three decades, but experts and officials say the so-called “King One” is a matter of when, not.

And the risk is still far away, even if it is in a big way this time.

“We shouldn’t be surprised that 70% of Californians live within 30 miles of an active fault,” said California State Geologist Jeremy Lancaster. “We have seven active volcanoes; we have landslides.

But what should you do when the world starts shaking? This is where the annual earthquakes come in.

Southern California will anchor its ShakeOut ride at the Los Angeles Emergency Operations Center downtown; The San Francisco Bay Area will be held in front of Oakland City Hall.

Here’s what you need to know about driving, and how to better prepare for an earthquake disaster:

Come down, cover and catch at 10: 16 am on Thursday

This may be common sense for Californians who grew up here and remember driving to school, but maybe it’s not so bad for those who moved here from here. During an earthquake, the best thing to do is to stop, cover and hold on when you feel the tremors or get the first warning signal.

“Get down on the ground. Take cover under something sturdy like a table. And hold until all the shaking stops,” said Wendy Bohon, California’s religious engineering branch manager, in a recent social media video.

Is it unsafe to run outside?

Some people may want to run outside when the tremors start. But there are reasons why it’s not the preferred answer in California.

One of the most dangerous areas for an earthquake is outside a building, where you can be hit by falling glass or bricks. Brick buildings in particular tend to fall apart, so being out of time during an earthquake can be dangerous, structural engineers say.

During the magnitude of 1989-6.9 Looma Prieta and 1994 Earthquake of 1994 – the last two main califordge hit by densely populated areas – about 50% of injuries caused by objects falling on people, Lancaster.

Getting off the ground under something like a table and sitting upright helps protect against falling objects. Research from the Loma Prieta and Northridge Quakes “revealed that you are twice as likely to be injured in an earthquake if you are inside Sara McBride,” said California Safety Assessment Executive Director.

“A lot of the injuries that were being recorded and funded and managed with motion-based injury money, because people were walking around trying to do things,” McBride said during the Webinar.

Studies in other nations with similar building stock to California, such as New Zealand, confirm that “get down, cover and hold” is often “a very good defensive action, but not always,” says McBride.

Research suggests that the reasons why people do not follow that power is that they may be embarrassed to do so, or because they care for the children and want to help them first.

But there are many examples where running is not the best option. During the northern earthquake, a mother in Rancho Cucamonga died after she was excited to check on her child and hit her head on the crib.

Is there a way to be warned about tremors before I feel the tremors?

There is a free app available for iOS and Android devices called myshake, developed by UC Berkeley and provided in partnership with the California Governor’s Office of Finance.

MyShake receives messages from Shakealert, the US Geological Survey’s early warning system. For people far from the epicenter of the earthquake, the system uses the lightning speed of today’s telecommunications system to send the first warning of an incoming tremor, which travels at a slower speed through the rock.

Many users can get seconds in the video of a warning that the shaking is subsiding, or a small confirmation that what they are hearing is indeed an earthquake. That can give people time to throw, cover and catch, or take other appropriate action, such as putting down the kitchen knife.

How should I protect my home?

Meet at the hardware store and look for ways to book straps on walls, find friendly ways to hang photos of Glass Photo, and TVs that are secured to the wall so they don’t release earthquakes.

Water heaters are also very important for proper ventilation, as doing so reduces the risk of fire.

You should also check to see if your home or apartment needs to be repossessed.

There is a common type of defect in many older California homes – especially those built before 1979 that have several above-ground stairs.

They are vulnerable because they are attached to the foundation of a short bad wall known as a “break wall,” which leaves the house vulnerable to tearing off the foundation when it is moved. Fixing this issue costs about $5,000 in southern California and $6,000 in northern California.

Grants are available through California’s rebate program to help offset the cost of this type of retrofit. The registration period has been extended to Friday. Applications can be submitted at EarthquakeElbolt.com.

Owners can apply for up to $3,000 in grant money. For the first time, the program now allows owners to receive rental income for homes they claim to rent, “allowing homeowners to apply for this investment grant opportunity to acquire their investment properties,” according to the program.

Apartment owners should also check to see if their properties need to be restored. Many in California are “soft” pet times in buildings.

This term applies to apartment buildings built decades ago where the ground floor has a carport, garage or shop. In these buildings, the ground floor can be raised by Flimsy, skin poles that can fall when they are shaken by an earthquake.

The ground floor of the “Stoof-stato” apartment building can collapse when moved from side to side. The support of these buildings is very good for earthquake resistance.

(Raoul Rañoa / Los Angeles Times)

See if you live in a Tsunami hazard area

California’s recent brushes with tsunami warnings have led officials to reiterate the need for residents to know where they live, work or frequent dangerous areas.

The California Geological Survey has a map that shows the locations, and I know if you tend to help you mentally prepare for the need to release the need you have to work. Importantly, knowing now can alert you when there is a need to evacuate.

During the recent Tsunami warning, some residents in Northern California who live in coastal areas – but where they are high enough to be safe from any tsunami – were evacuated to low-lying areas, and in fact fled to low-intensity areas.

In other areas, such as Berkeley, some residents thought it was impossible for a tsunami to enter San Francisco Bay, and argued for evacuation orders.

Experts say there is more work to be done in educating people about the dangers of tsunamis.

What made California prone to earthquakes?

The same land forces that helped build the mountains of California in California and the sea – to allow skiing and leave on the same day – are the same as those caused by the risk of earthquakes in the future.

Despite its reputation, California is actually the second most active state in the nation – Alaska’s no. 1 – “But because we have about 40 million people in the kingdom, we. 1 at risk of earthquakes,” said Lancaster. A single earthquake in California can cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

And the last major earthquake – those with a magnitude of 7.8 or 7.9 – did not occur in modern times. The last earthquake of that sequence struck Northern California in 1906, destroying much of San Francisco. The earlier swinging central California and southern California of 1857, when the region was still crowded with similarities.

A smaller earthquake preceded a larger earthquake on the San Andreas Fault in 1857, estimated at Magnitude 7.8 or 7.9.

(Raoul Rañoa / Los Angeles Times)

Areas that can experience the most damaging tremors from earthquakes tend to be along California’s active faults, Bohon said. That includes areas in southern California and the San Francisco Bay area, according to an updated California Geological Survey earthquake map.

What do officials do?

California is working to better prepare for earthquakes. On Wednesday, the California State Department of Defense broke ground on new land in Costa Mesa to serve as the headquarters for California’s disaster and emergency department. The office’s current headquarters is in Mather, outside of Sacramento.

And on May 6, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a new law that requires the restoration of one high concrete earthquake that may be owned by the County or in illegal areas, where 1 million people live. The district set a deadline for the refund to be done within 20 years.

But much remains to be done. While some local governments throughout California require the resurfacing of older buildings, frankly, many others do not. Questions remain about how water supply and utilities will fare after a major earthquake.

A major concern is the risk of fire following an earthquake, and whether firefighters will have enough water.

“Anywhere in California that could get a strong earthquake shook,” Bohon said. “So it’s really important that you know how to do it.”