Great American Shake-Out

I felt tremors of the Spring earthquake.  Did you?

Although SC isn't exactly known as an earthquake zone, our history says otherwise. South Carolina is an active seismic zone with an average of 10 to 15 earthquakes a year. Back in 1886, the Charleston earthquake caused 60 deaths and rattled most of the east coast of the United States. According to accounts here in the BDC, the earthquake caused a tidal wave in the Beaufort River and the "Naked and Afraid" exposure of one of Beaufort's finest citizens to his neighbors.

For the visually minded, our partner, the Lowcountry Digital Library, hosts images of the devastation caused by the earthquake at http://bit.ly/11eZymv. Also we have no images of the tidal wave or the public exposure to share.

Do you know what to do when the earth moves? 

At 10:16 this Thursday, October 16th, "Drop. Cover. Hold On"! to participate in the Great SouthEast ShakeOut, an emergency preparedness earthquake drill. "Drop, Cover, and Hold On!" means to dive under a sturdy piece of furniture and hold onto it for at least 60 seconds.  You have to hold onto the furniture because during an earthquake furniture tends to move.  Don't have any sturdy furniture? Emergency preparedness folks say that in that case, it's best to get on the floor and cover your head, trying to stay away from windows and things that might fall on top of you. For more information visit the Great SouthEast ShakeOut website at http://www.earthquakecountry.info/dropcoverholdon/.