"It is our responsibility - as individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities - to reduce risks beforehand, know what to do when disaster strikes, prepare for the critical period afterwards and make sure that planning for disasters has the high priority it deserves," writes Lori Dengler for the Times-Standard.
She continues with an account of school evacuation drills, and encourages to take action by writing that "The first step to earthquake and tsunami resilience is to TALK! Talk to your family, friends, school staff, and co-workers. Find out what plans are in place and what needs to be done to improve them. Some actions are easy, like learning if you are in a tsunami zone and practicing DROP, COVER, and HOLD ON after an earthquake."