Is Your Earthquake Protocol Up to Snuff?

The two earthquakes in Southern California last week have many owners reevaluating the earthquake protocol systems, and many are finding a need to update in place procedures. It is crucial—particularly because an earthquake can hit at any time—to have a system in place to respond to earthquakes and emergencies.

“Major earthquakes are so rare that a response program is often in need of being updated, or emergency practices are often overlooked,” Steve Core, president of RiverRock Real Estate Group, tells GlobeSt.com. “These quakes were a reminder that an emergency, not just an earthquake, can happen at any time. It’s important to know what to do before the emergency hits because during an event there’s too much happening and too many moving parts to figure it out in the moment.”

The first rule of a quality earthquake or emergency protocol system is to makes sure that tenants feel safe during a disaster and to ensure facilities are as safe as possible. “Specific to an earthquake, our protocol is activated during a magnitude of 5.0 or greater,” Core says. “We send out a regional and/or companywide alert through our communication platform and our teams make voice contact with their supervisors or an executive team member.  Our executive teams located in other regions provide additional support and are contacted if the local call center is impacted or can’t be reached.”

RiverRock puts the system into place as soon as possible after an earthquake. For properties with 24-7 coverage, that is almost immediately. “In past quakes, roadways and infrastructures have been damaged and were unsafe, so protocol mandates that managers not drive to their properties until daylight for safety reasons,” says Core. “At daylight all properties are visited and clients are notified of their status.  Our Construction Management team is on standby to assist with the coordination of repairs, structural engineering inspections and so on.”

RiverRock is frequently updating its protocol, and by happenstance had updated its system before the earthquakes hit last week. “When the quakes hit, the plan was implemented as expected starting with the broadcast email,” explains Core. “Calls started coming in almost immediately.  Onsite services were contacted and clients received notification immediately that we were aware of an event and we were responding.  Saturday was spent inspecting the properties and providing further updates to the clients and executive staff.  Luckily outside of some minor cracking, ceiling shifting and resetting of elevators there was no major damage reported.”

Despite the recent update, Core says the company will review the response and make improvements as needed. That underscores the importance of having an updated, quality system in place. “As in any issue there are always lessons learned and things that can be improved upon,” he says. “We’ve compiled a summary report and observations and will be reviewed with the entire team within the next 48 hours to improve upon our performance. This way we can be even more prepared in the event of the next emergency.”