6 or 7 years ago on a Saturday morning, LOML and I were still lying in bed (NW Mississippi) and we felt a shake for several seconds. We both knew it was an earthquake and quickly turned on the TV, expecting something from the New Madrid fault north of Memphis TN (which caused an 8.0 - 212 years ago). To our surprise it was from somewhere in Oklahoma - 500 miles away.
On Jan. 17, 1995, living in the Osaka-Kobe area of Japan, we had a 7.2 quake at 5:46 AM. 6300+ lives lost. It was quite scary. Phone systems down; difficult reaching family back in the States to let them know we were OK. To this day, LOML keeps an Earthquake survival trunk and pack ready, especially since we are less than 100 miles from the New Madrid fault.
Do you know what to do if a strong quake does hit and cell phone towers are down? Do you know where emergency locations are, how to get to them if bridges are down? Does your family know where to begin looking for you or what government agencies to call? After the Great Hanshinn Earthquake, our organization made each family research local emergency centers, phone numbers and then send in a report which was given to several leaders in different locations so that leadership outside of a disaster area would know where to look for personnel.