Keeping calm and carrying on
October 17 was the 'Great Shakeout drill' in California. Time to practice practice 'Drop, cover, and hold on'. It is 30 years to the day since the last 'Big One' in Northern California - the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. That quake happened during a live broadcast of a World Series baseball game and the TV feed cut out dramatically . The game meant that traffic was lighter on the freeways, which was a very good thing as it turned out because there were some dramatic structural fails on the roads. Particularly bad was the collapse of a section of double-decker freeway. As it was, the earthquake resulted in 63 deaths, 3757 injuries, and $10 billion in damages. I happened to be at ThingOne's school to collect him for an appointment when the drill started at 10.17am. One of the office staff announced the drill over the loudspeaker and then rattled a pencil case into the microphone. Kids who were on office duty scurried under desks like little mice while ...