Homeland Security to Conduct Multi-State Earthquake Drill
**Written by Doug Powers
Scenario: An earthquake that’s an 8.2 on the Richter scale strikes middle America. Can agents with the Department of Homeland Security keep their balance well enough to still perform pat-downs on six year olds? We’ll know by the end of next Thursday.
The New Madrid fault is the focus of the Department of Homeland Security (the first two years of the administration were focused completely on Bush’s fault), and Janet Napolitano and Arne Duncan are overseeing an earthquake preparedness test next week that will focus mostly on schools in the midwest:
The Departments of Homeland Security and Education are reaching out to millions of people in central U.S. states to get them to participate in an earthquake preparedness drill.
In an event called the “Great Central U.S. Shake Out,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are reaching out to areas in the Midwest that could be impacted by an earthquake along the New Madrid fault line.
According to the event’s website, more than 2.5 million people have committed to taking part in Thursday’s drill in which participants will be told how to react in the event of an earthquake.
Participants are told to drop to the ground, take cover under something sturdy, such as a desk or a table, and hold on to it until the shaking stops.
“It’s critical that all members of the nation’s emergency management team — including the federal government, state, local and tribal officials, the private sector and the public — are prepared,” said Napolitano.
The DHS website informs people to “Drop, cover and hold on until the shaking stops.” That sounds more like advice from a 1955 sex-ed manual than earthquake preparedness information it took an entire department of government to come up with, but hey, whatever works.
Incidentally, the “drop & cover” procedure is the same one we’re supposed to use when a collision with the debt ceiling is imminent, but DHS won’t conduct a drill on that until next month.
You can learn more about earthquake preparedness by watching Napolitano’s “If you see something shaking, say something” video at all participating Walmart stores.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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I guess they’re expecting massive Earthquakes from the Founding Fathers, and other patriots, rolling over in their graves.
Midwest states…like Minnesota? We have fault lines in Minnesota? Who knew?
To make the simulation real, they need to get Big Sis, Mooochelle, Hillary and Oparh all to fall on their butts at the same time.
Sounds a lot like the bomb drills we used to do in elementry school in SoCal. These people are pathetic.
There are 3 important things about an earthquake; the three “Ds” — distance, depth, and duration. If the first two are small numbers and the third is large, it doesn’t matter if you’re under a two-foot thick oak laminate table in the Fuerher Bunker.
I can understand the gov’t reusing a 1960s nuclear bomb drill (drop and cover) because it’s easy. But how about telling people the truth? If distance, depth, and duration work in your favor, you should be okay with things like drop and cover. If they don’t, it won’t matter. And there’s no way to know. I guess the best thing to tell folks is, drop and cover, and if the shaking lasts more than 30 seconds, be prepared to die.
Loma Prieta was 15 seconds. I know, I lived through it and look at the damage it did. Another 15-30 seconds and damage would have been 1000 times worse.
off-topic…
Grats, Doug, you appear to have solved your multi-tweet issue. Ever figure out the cause?
The official color code for an verified earthquake is brown.
Too much! All three going down, will create a global disaster, the likes we’ve never seen, the earth splitting to its core.
Any two of ‘em will get the effect you’re looking for.
Duck, Hold, and Cover. Isn’t that the mantra that citizens of the US are saying about the current administrations policies?
Hopefully, we will survive but the shakedown continues.
We had Earthquakes here in Oklahoma last year.
I know, because the paper told me about them the next day.
I wonder, if we start having Earthquakes, can we start exporting tornadoes to California?
By the time we were in 5th grade, we kinda figured the drill was pointless. If we were ever bombed, we’d all be vaporized before we knew what happened.
we used to have to drop and cover in school for tornado drills, and those obnoxious nuclear drills, remember those?? yet another thank you to ronald reagan, for ending the cold war. now drop and cover for an earthquake, i thought we were supposed to stand in a doorway.
Funny that! Every so often, close to where I live, east Long Beach will experience damaging micro-tornadoes!
Keep the real tornadoes. Earthquakes are quite enough, thank you very much.
That was/is a common misconception. “Duck and cover” won’t protect you anywhere near ground zero. But, if you’re like 20 miles away, you can still be killed by the pressure wave or flying debris as your building comes down.
If you know you’ve seen the flash, you’ve survived the detonation.
If I am not mistaken, one of the biggest earthquakes in US history was in Missouri. Close to 8.0. in the early 1800′s.
Thats where the New Madrid fault is.
I forget, is it New MAD drid, as pronounced in Iowa, or New Mah DRID, as pronounced in Spain?
I really do not want to see anything of her’s shaking!
(pass the brain bleach please!)
We weren’t. We’d always heard LAX was a prime target to which we were about 4 miles away, and with the multiple warheads we thought would be coming our way, we were certain we’d always be too close to at least one “ground zero” and be fried. Besides, for us, there wasn’t much of a desk to duck under. They were pretty small.
I saw the “tornado” that went through a part of Costa Mesa in the early 90′s. We used to call them dirt devils. Just some swirling wind in a parking lot. Not anything like a real tornado.
Never go on how an Iowan pronouces things. Good chance its wrong.
You certainly don’t want the visual of the resulting tsunami.
Oh, the few that have occured in LB were more than dirt devils. A couple of times parts of house roofs have been torn off. Once 1/3 of a supermaret roof was blown off. No injuries that I can recall, thankfully.
Good One!!! LOL.
The FLOTUS believes “the BIG ONE” could hit the central U.S. within the next 30 years.
Childhood and Adult obesity are having a negative impact on Gaia’s crust, and all the extra weight could generate enough pressure along the New Madrid Fault to start a series of quakes, which could destroy Graceland and Maramec Caverns, as well as Lambert’s Country Cafe.
She’s been watching too much Sanford and Son.
do do do do.., do do do do do do do..
Oh, different Big One.
Nappy the clown was on WJR this morning giving the details about the terror warning system. Evidently next week the color system goes away and we will now be notified via e-mail, twitter, etc. You know – “the system worked” – new system. All I do is laugh at this twit every time she opens her pie hole. What an udder failure!!!
I would feel much better if she would close the damn border!!!
Yes it is NewMADrid. and there was an earthquake in 1811. It apparently rang the liberty bell in Philadelphia and sent a tidal wave up the Mississippi all the way to Minnesota. When it came, it found a new channel, making part of Illinois now part of Missouri.
I heard Michael Moore is volunteering his indigestion as a training aid.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
That goes for America too, BHO clowns.
This one missed me by about ten minutes.
The hail on the ground south of the overturned train was about three inches thick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrgDSkLbnKw
Besides earthquakes in flyover country, there’s also this for you all to consider:
I think I saw a TV special on that. It was a major city (Capital) on an Island or something like that that basically ended up in another state.
Ok, who’s gonna make the joke about Moochelle and Ophras eruptions being long overdue. Not me.
somebody said it once and I think of it every time I see her picture…”man that’s one good lookin’ dude”
It’s a bit like the advice of stopping your car and throwing yourself into a ditch if you’re driving along and spot a big tornado. You’ll try to outrun it anyway.
Just like if I feel a quake (live in SoCal) and it lasts more than 2 seconds, screw duck and cover, I’m getting out!
BTW, this tsunami video is right out of a nightmare:
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/77896,life,video,people-climb-hill-to-flee-japan-tsunami-in-new-video
Whoever said that needed an eye examination…..’cause in reality, she looks like one rather homely dude.
Why does Obama prefer manly looking women in his admin?
Hawkeye, did you see the movie 2012? It had the supervolcano at Yellowstone exploding.
Hawkeye, sounds like me growing up. We were about 15 miles from downtown Houston and about an equal distance from the Port of Houston and the refinery complexes near there. I figured what with the overlap (not to mention the toxic releases and the additional fuel-air bomb they’d become) between the two, we were toast.
Hey, all right! I agree! And after this drill, why don’t we have a drill about a REALLY BIG PROBLEM THAT EXISTS RIGHT NOW!!!!!! THE B O R D E R!!!
The scenario:
Call it the “Great Mexican Break-out”.
Mexican Cartels overrun our borders and take over El Paso and other border towns. They loot, steal, murder and rape American citizens (even more than they are doing now). Participants will be told how to react:
drop to the ground, take cover under something sturdy, such as a desk or a table, and hold on to it until the invading stops.
No. When it gets to AMC channel I’ll probably watch it. Events like that are best when purely fiction.
You kinda beat me to it. I just want to know if there is an unwritten rule that female Cabinet Members named Janet, that are appointed by Democratic Presidents, have to look like unattractive men?
“Janet Napolitano is Janet Reno without the grace and beauty.” – Charles Clemans
The movie “2012″ I give a rating of -
3 finger gag.
Better to hold on to something bolted down. Anything not so will just be carted off as loot. Anyone still holding on to a desk or table at that point will only risk being killed, beaten, raped, and/or taken to be sold in the Asian slave labor market.
That is the most vicious thing I’ve heard in some time.
Love it!
I think that she is the bastard love-child of Raymond Burr and Barney Rubble.
Maybe a policy dictated by the FLOTUS’s. Hillary should have incorporated that policy regarding WH interns. Not that that would have had much of an impact with Bill.
FIFY
OK, this made me LOL, thanks, Doug.
Seriously, though: this instruction could have been written by my 5-year old niece, or any other 5-year old in California. Hawkeye54 mentioned it also. Every kid in California knows what to do in an earthquake. It’s a perfect illustration of how ridiculously huge the federal government has grown. And Out.Of.Touch.??
Insanity.
That is the most flattering pic of J-Nap I’ve ever seen.
Must have been PhotoShopped.
When I was in the 2nd grade in Salt Lake City, we used to have earthquake drills by hiding under our desks. Then one day we had an earthquake (’62 I think it was) and my teacher, Mrs Peterson, said “no body move, stay in your seats.” So after all that training, we sat there while the room shook. I can picture Mrs Peterson, red hair and all, shaking for what seemed like hours, like it was yesterday.
For the nuke drills, we went into the hall and stuck our nose in the corner where the floor meets the wall and covered our heads. Never had a chance to test that one out.
Can’t disagree, VS.
What’s the greater threat to the U.S.?
An earthquake in the Midwest?
Or, uncontrolled illegal immigration into (invasion of) the U.S., which undoubtedly includes at least a few terrorists?
And DHS is conducting a multi-state earthquake drill in the Midwest.
Talk about distraction, diversion, and confusion….
Yup.
That’s what I remember.
If you take that pic, put a grey, curly wig on her and… Voila! I am certain you would have Thelma Harper of Mama’s Family fame.
Couldn’t they find some one better-the Boy Scouts perhaps?
Nappy can not do it right.
Well, at least they are beginning to listen.
Drill, baby, drill.
I agree with the idea. Preparedness is the best way to survive a disaster. But. . .
They can’t even call it an earthquake ! You can stop with the political correctness, there’s no pro-earthquake lobby you might offend.
They’ve been so programmed in Orwellian Speak, they’d call a forecast for a sunny day a “high probability solar event”.
(And try to scare you about it as well. More taxes & a government agency for solar protection.)
Sun Czar
hawkeye54 said:
Glad you brought that up. I’ve heard equal camps pronounce Goo-ten-berg and the other half say Gutt-en-berg? Let’s settle this once and for all!
No, more than the pointless ‘drill’, what we should be equally up in arms about is, to what END is all these “studies”, data gathering and endless surveys and whatnot?
Probably less than 10% of all that Gov-generated ‘data’ ever even gets looked at! What’s the point? Well, we finally have a pResident that’s about to show us? IMHO
I’ve felt small earthquakes here in Oklahoma City.
So, I reckon what I should do if the New Madrid fault errupts is: 1.Blame Sarah Palin/Republicans. 2. Get in a doorway. 3. Call the police, give them all of my guns, and stand there uselessly while looters steal what little I have left.
Talking about the way things are pronounced – This has won a few bar bets.
Is the capital of Kentucky pronounced Looey-ville or Lewis-ville?
.
.
.
.
answer – the capital of Kentucky is pronounced Frankfurt
There is no try
When I was a kid in school during the russia gonna crater you with nukes, we got our hind ends under the desk at school and covered our heads. NOW people who here thinks covering your head will keep you safe? This whole thing is something dear sis put out to scare the living daylights outta people. God does earthquqakes and you can not do a blooming thing about it. How will dear sis deal with all the illegal aliens coming over the border, give them a drill? We can do something about what bho and team are doing in 2012!
L
Keeps otherwise useless researchers in university and private think tanks employed in generating often unnecessary information.
Yeah, an EPA approved drill, or a hammer, or broom, burger flipper, or whatever tool needed to do the jobs we won’t do.
What, are there not enough 6 year old little girls to molest in airports? I guess they have to expand the search for victims.
How long until this becomes bigger than the sex scandals in the Catholic Church?
If Yellowstone is overdue for eruption, why isn’t there a crash government program to drill in Yellowstone?
Wouldn’t it be better to drill a hundred relief wells and let the pressure out slightly and slowly over a dispersed area, than wait and let it blow up all at once?
While this administration continues its routine drill – The Great American Shake-down.
hawkeye54 said:
Near as ‘I’ can figure? Many of you have done this in the past I’m sure, if only for a goof. Call or write the Gov. Printing Office and tell them… you’d like all the umm… data they have on ____?
Stand by to get a drink of water from a fire hydrant! And… it just keeps coming! Sorry we didn’t have volume 17 of 24, shipped seperately: Just incredible. Can I get “by the cord” like firewood? Start liking it I guess ( you’re paying for it )
If there IS oil around the massive Yellowstone caldera, can’t it just refine itself?
That’s a tricky statement. I’m pretty sure that was the biggest one in the lower 48 but Alaska had something like a 9.2 in 1964. I still remember that one. Houses “walked” over a mile into the ocean. There are parts of Anchorage where a seam tore open down the main street and one side of the street is 15-20 higher than the other. There were tsunamis as far south as Santa Barbara.
Luckily, I lived in MA at the time.
Our taxes pay for studies that inform us:
-Over 99% of the women in New York City are female.
-Snake handlers are bitten more often than backpackers.
-The Boeing 737 can take off and land on only one engine unless the second engine also experiences failure.
You’re right Phil, my wife’s aunt was stationed there at the time (Air Force Colonel) and has pictures that show the tear in the earth. Really unbelievable.
You’re right about other things, too…
The GOP establishment is terrified of Trump.
http://www.newsmax.com/MattTowery/donald-trump-gop-mittromney/2011/04/21/id/393606
Funny, I do not need to be told that. That’s my reaction and solution everytime I hear Big Sis’ grovely voice,BHO’s sickening Chicago accent,and Nancy Pe-lousy’s squealing.
From what I have seen on various programs on the Yellowstone quake, many thousands of years ago, this is one beyond huge quake simmering there. If this blows, algore will really be bent out of shape on the carbon output!
L
Survey says: {Brrrrrrrkkkkk}
For chappy and a ‘few’ other posters ( that might actually prove useful? )
Just look at “City-Data”. Scope out virtually any area, maybe you were testing the waters for your “retirement haven” and you find they re-invent the wheel for each-and-every one horse town!
And it doesn’t stop there. They auger down where there’s nothing to auger down ‘to’? It’s so voluminous as to be utterly useless. Unless of course there comes a time…?
Perhaps we need to replace Holder at DOJ with the head of the Govt Printing Office. At least we could get some relevant info on the shady activities of this government. Can you say Project Gunrunner, little Eric?
I am really sorry to be O/T, but this was my feel good story of the day. Hope you agree. You can be proud Mississippi!
http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/04/21/mississippi-shows-how-you-handle-westboro-freaks
L
cabreski said:
Wuh-BAM! As is ( we’re parched! ) Got to practice my narration for the lectern ( Maundy Thursday! ) do… wish me well.
What I’d really like to see from her and the DHS, is a campaign instructing those living along the border on how best they should protect themselves… from drug runners and the cartel who are armed with weapons…provided by…our own government. s/
On April 21st, 2011 at 7:44 pm, Marshall_Will said:
cabreski said:
Best wishes, Marshall =) btw how did the TPP event go last week? Drove out to ours and it was cancelled (note on the website cited due to circumstances beyond their control)
Drop your trousers, cover your genitalia, and hold on until the searching stops.
May be Janet could have a tsunami drill too. It could be done in coordination with Moooochelle’s let’s move project.
So is the Obama administration going to claim this as part of his “drill baby drill!” initiative?
Gee, I start shaking just thinking that Janet could come walking out of a stall in the same restroom as me! EWWWWWW!!!!
If you shake it more than twice………
This definitely appears to be the only “drill-baby-drill” initiative this admin. shows ANY interest in, Phil !
‘Cuz ever body knows Moochelle would whoop his ass if he pulled a Clinton!
[Chyna "Nappy" Whyte]
I’ma shake-shake it like I wanna
Bounce-bounce it on the floor make you see I wanna
Walk-walk it like a dog right there on the corner
Make you say “Who that girl with that Thug Life tatted on her”
See people want it ha that’s how we do
Screamin’ “Ahh-yah-ya-yah” me and my crew
Live in a zoo
That why I got a strap too
Twurk that ass if I want blow a bag boo
And act a donkey, act a monkey
Get a fifth of gin to see this chick get funky like a junkie
Show what this raw darlin’
6 years of hustlin’, see where it brought me
This ghetto monkey, I’m livin’ lawless
Livin’ life is the hardest
Tryin’ to live marvelous in a world full of garbage
I’ma talk it
If you don’t want it, don’t start it
Cause I’ma put it down the way you want it
Ni**a
I’m watching Hannity right now and once again, I have to say that he appears to be the only conservative left. He is really hammering away at the GOP’s already developing “jimmy legs” over the upcoming debt ceiling “fight”. Apparently, the GOP has already decided that the ceiling has to go up but they will do their best considering that they only control 1/2 of 1/3 of the government.
Here we go again. Preparing everyone for failure by making excuses and lowering the bar. Yeah, I’m really excited at voting for Republicans in 2012.
You just need to develop the proper nose holding technique. Cutting the oxygen supply to the brain is critical to voting for NotTheDemocrats.
I’m still hoping for a miracle and we somehow get a conservative past the RNC.
With these drills, it’s not about earthquakes or militias attacking a school in Iowa or any other specific cause of the emergency. It’s about drilling the government to respond quickly to emergencies, especially when they announce that we are all being sent to education camps, and work out the kinks on communications over a large confused and frustrated and maybe not-so-local-but-very-popular uprising.
Why else would they be resorting to extreme fear on the flu, air travel, food, children playing in the school years, and so many other things? Feels like we are being softened up for the big blow.
Oh yes, I really enjoy it when he is fawning over Carl Rove or French kissing Newt….
Phil we may have to hold an intervention for you.
Works for me. Gives us a chance to study them…..Wolverines.
This is crocheted and hanging over the toilet.
My mother did knitting, crocheting and needlepoint, and we she with us today, she would be laughing her tail off.
There was a black comedian in the 70′s, who had a line about nuclear war,
“If one goes off and you can say ‘Waz that’? You’re cool!”
school yards, not school years.
I’ve probably reached my maximum weekly allowance for making off-topic Simpsons references as a newbie, but allow me one more.
I look at Janet Napolitano and all I can see is schoolyard bully Nelson Muntz.
I’m sure she’d be as surprised as the rest of us.