Mark Benthien, the Director for Communication, Education, and Outreach for the Southern California Earthquake Center visited FEMA HQ in late-January to discuss ShakeOut initiatives for 2020 and screen the Quake Heroes documentary.
Prior to screening the documentary, Mark and his colleague, Dr. Michele Wood (lead ShakeOut evaluator from CSU Fullerton), discussed ShakeOut 2020 initiatives with several programs from across FEMA. Members from the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA), Individual and Community Preparedness Division (ICPD), and the Office of External Affairs (OEA) attended this meeting to learn about upcoming ShakeOut activities, such as utilizing social sciences to determine what motivates earthquake response.
Following the ShakeOut 2020 discussion, Mark and Michelle screened Quake Heroes at a Resilience lunch and learn session. Quake Heroes is a motivational documentary about the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in California, developed with support from FEMA and many other sponsors. It uses a combination of retrospective interviews, cinematic reenactments, and archival news footage to show how neighbors, first responders, and others came together to save lives, calm nerves, and begin recovery in the aftermath of the historic earthquake. The documentary ends with a call to action to strengthen building codes to prevent future earthquakes from being as devastating, and to seek CERT and other training in order to assist neighbors when disasters strike. Following the screening, audience members asked questions and engaged in discussions about the film. Many left feeling they had new insights into what the peopled affected by the Northridge Earthquake experienced.
For more information on Quake Heroes, visit: https://www.quakeheroes.org/
For more information on the FEMA National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, visit: https://www.fema.gov/earthquake
To learn more about Southern California Earthquake Center, visit: https://www.scec.org/
Visit ShakeOut.org: https://www.shakeout.org/
Visit Ready.gov: https://www.ready.gov/earthquakes
Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety: https://www.earthquakecountry.org/sevensteps
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