Earthquakes Unpredicatable, Deadly

The earth is made up of layers. Earthquakes are caused by movement in the uppermost parts of the crust layer called faults, which cause the earth to literally move beneath our feet. According to UtahEarthquake, it is estimated that approximately 500,000 earthquakes happen in the world each year, only 100,000 can actually be felt, and around 100 of them cause damage.

The mountain ranges in Utah were primarily created by normal dip-slip faults. A large earthquake could cause a segment of the Wasatch fault line to drop 3 to 20 feet, according to (Earthquake.org).

Earthquakes can happen anywhere in the state of Utah, not just along the Wasatch Front and about 700 earthquakes happen in Utah every year, though only about two percent is ever felt. Over the past 6,000 years, a large earthquake has occurred about every 400 years. Close to 600 years have passed since the last large quake.

According to the USGS website, earthquakes are a natural thing that happen every day, and somewhere on the earth, and earthquake will happen today, possibly right now.

According to vice principal Curtis Hagen, a regular earthquake drill for RHS includes about a half minute of the drill sound and students getting under there desks, usually not followed by evacuation due to the fact that it could be safer for students to stay where they are.

“The most important thing is to protect students,” says Hagen.

When is comes to protection in the school, the only thing we can do is practice and be prepared, but no one really knows what will happen during a real situation.

Hagen also mentioned that the school needs to practice four drills a year, two of which are usualloy fire because they need to practice evacuation, and two that are shelter in place, such as an earthquake drill.

According to Hagen, teachers are given packets filled with all drill and safety procedures, and before school starts they take some time to practice the drills without students so that they know what to do.

Being prepared is a huge part of safety because no one here can really predict when and where it’s going to happen, no matter how much information we have.