Jul 24, 2019
[Intro]
911, what’s the nature of your emergency?
Ashlie: Welcome back to another episode of
Tactical Living by Leo warriors. I'm your host Ashlie
Walton.
Clint: And I’m your co-host Clint
Walton.
Ashlie: Today is an unnerving day. And that is
because here in southern California we've been rocked with quite a
few earthquakes. Quite a few aftershocks and now what they're
calling a pre quake. So just sit back, relax and enjoy today's
content. One of my biggest fears in life is earthquakes. I'm a
native of southern California. Clint and I both were born and
raised here, and we've experienced a significant amount of
earthquakes in our lifetime. But this earthquake that happened last
night it was a 7.1 and it was the biggest one that we've had in 20
years. Baby do you remember the one that happened back in
1999?
Clint: I do. It is the landers quake and that
one was really powerful, and I was a kid at the time. So I just
remember how much a shook and that super close to us, so it really
shook us good.
Ashlie: Do you remember what they said the
magnitude of that quake was?
Clint: I want to say 7.4.
Ashlie: Okay. And then this one that we had last night with a 7.1 and let's see in 1999, so I was 12 years old when we had that landers quake.
Clint: Yeah. And what's crazy about that one
was it was actually the epicenter was so close to us in comparison
to even this one.
Ashlie: I remember that one very vividly
because it happened so late at night and the entire home was asleep
and it started shaking so violently. And my mom ran into my
bedroom. She knows how petrified I get at earthquakes and I
remember that one. It was unique because it was like a violent
shaking. And in the midst of that anyone who's never
experienced an earthquake before, they're very loud. You can hear
creaking cracking rumbling shaking everything in your house banging
together. But for this one I knew something happened like I could
hear this loud crashing and being at late at night I remember
my folks turn on the hallway light, we all kind of congregate in
the hallway. My brothers and my parents and I. And then
we walk out into the den and my dad had built several shelves up on
the wall. My mom had a collection of them those oil
lanterns.
Clint: Oh like those kerosene lanterns?
Ashlie: And some of them still had the kerosene in them probably from wherever she had gotten it from. I don't know maybe my dad brought it home from a job site or something, he is pretty notorious for doing stuff like that. And that whole entire shelf with all these collectibles was all over the ground. And I remember we all just looked at each other because we've never experienced something of damage like that together as a family. And nobody said anything. But we all just started cleaning it up.
There was oil everywhere like smeared all over the carpet and glass was shattered. And the boys and my dad took up the big boards that were once the shelves and we all just started cleaning together. And I remember leaning down and my hands were trembling. I was so scared. And in southern California we get primed with the notion that the big one is coming. So I think a big part of it for me is like okay well when is the next one going to happen.
Clint: And it's something that's instilled
within us since we're kids, the big ones always the next one. And
looking back at our history, the San Francisco quake, the
Northridge quake and seeing the damages that we've seen in our
lifetime is just what's the next big one if those winds could
create so much havoc and damage.
Ashlie: And to be honest with you we're sitting upstairs right now, and I told Clint before we came up here that I was scared. I'm scared to even be sitting up here because I mean we know that the statistics for us having another earthquake, especially a bigger earthquake than the one we had last night shortly after they say within the first week or two. But I mean this one we just experienced was even bigger than the one that we had a day prior on the fourth of July. So even talking right now I’m like nervous being up here as we record. But as we're cleaning up this mess and my hands are trembling when I leaned down to pick up what is now just a bunch of trash. I remember trying to reach for something and my hands were shaking so bad and then all the sudden as a lean over this, it was like a white shelf that I’m trying to pick stuff up off of. And my nose started to bleed. Like I was so petrified that it gave me a bloody nose.
And my mom felt so bad and she made me sit down so I couldn't
help anymore and just experiencing that kind of fear as a child I
think I’ve carried that with me and in my mind like earthquakes are
fear. And so last night we were for I should say fortunate enough,
but we were in Vegas on the fourth of July. So we actually,
although many people did, we didn't feel that earthquake. Which is
strange because at the time it happened it was around ten thirty in
the morning. And I was sitting on the counter in the bathroom doing
my makeup. And if anyone's going to feel an earthquake it's
going to be me.
Clint: You give the slightest of shakes and
Ashlie is like, "oh my gosh is that an earthquake."
Ashlie: Yeah, I feel it's like your cell phone when you have these ghost vibrations. I feel like I have these sorts of phantom earthquakes because I’m just always waiting for it to happen. And last night we were just sitting on the couch together and I was like, Clint oh my god, oh my god Clint and I don't think he realized at first what was happening. And in full transparency he is probably so used to me thinking we're having an earthquake when we are not, the fact that we actually were it took him a moment to register and all of a sudden like it wouldn't stop. And I had a blanket over me.
So I took my blanket I threw it on my poor puppy, and he is like struggling because he can't see anything, because I just covered him with the blanket and then we get up and I take the blanket off my dog. I pick him up and I go to head for the backdoor because it still wouldn't stop. And it started to become more and more aggressive. So for me, I’m like okay well I had this entire story of a home on top of me, like I don't want to be inside. So I grabbed the dog, Clint grabs another dog. Our poor oldest dog, she's like being summoned to follow us and we open up the back door. We go outside, Bella follows.
And I remember bracing myself on this pillar that we have outside, and it still wouldn't stop. And this one was really different for me, because it was like you're on a swing set. It wasn't swinging, it was literally swinging back and forth, and it got to the point to where it lasted for so long. I think this one was probably a good 60 to 90 seconds. And as I am bracing myself and it's still not stopping, I started to get vertigo and like immediately started to feel sick. And I’m like okay well is it still really swinging or is it just me that's swinging and the poor dogs they were so nervous, because I was so nervous. And even in that moment when things start to settle down. You're wondering like are these plates going to continue to shift below us and then it's going to start to get more and more violent. And you're just waiting for that to happen.
And finally we go inside and Clint trying to calm me down and I am still trembling like even thinking about how that feeling was last night and I hate it. It's just something we all have that one thing. And for me earthquakes is definitely one of them. And then you try to calm down, but then the aftershocks starts to happen.
Clint: And that's one thing is really crazy because we were watching the news and seeing just everything that was unfolding and seeing what the USGS was saying about the earthquake. And then you see this like timer come up on the screen and it was counting down and it goes five and then we started shaking again.
Ashlie: Yeah like it's incredible the level of technology that's being created really because of these seismologists and things like that. And to have the capability to have some sort of preface and some sort of precursor to you know get ready the ground's about to shake. I've never experienced before where it's like actual live time and we're watching this counter and we think that the airing was maybe a couple of seconds delayed.
Clint: And the lady who speaks on the
earthquakes she gets so excited and it's just, it's funny to watch
her because she always gives you a calming with that. Because she
goes, oh here comes another one and then she sits there, and she
goes there it is and she has a big smile on her face and it is
really funny.
Ashlie: Yeah. And then just to pay witness to what's about to happen and then the ground just starts to shake again and the cool thing about that is it told us it was a 5.3 magnitude. So we knew we were going to feel it. But at least we knew it wasn't going to be as bad or even worse than the one we had just experienced and the advances in technology to have that capacity to be able to forewarn when an earthquake is going to happen, especially here in southern California, I think it's so important. Because it gives people, even if it's 30 seconds of time to be able to, I mean we're supposed to ducking cover here in southern California. But for me I’m like, fuck that shit like get me out of the building. And so to have that, that moment's notice to be able to prepare yourself whatever that means for you, it's incredible how far we've come.
Because I mean think about 20 years ago, we never would have been able to prepare for something like an earthquake. And they also, when things like this happen it also increases the awareness for you to make sure that you're prepared when the big one strikes. Clint and I live about 10 miles away from the San Andreas fault line. Luckily this one was not centered anywhere near the San Andreas fault.
Clint: Which if you don't know anything about
the San Andreas fault, it's one of the biggest fault lines that we
have throughout California. It's huge, it's
massive.
Ashlie: Yeah. And when you're studying and following the mapping of these earthquakes and you see that there are these releases on the fault line. My mom used to always say, like it's okay you want the smaller ones to happen because it's releasing the pressure. So like the big huge one doesn't happen. I don't know that I believed her. But it's something that I’m sure she just used to kind of cool me with. And the important thing when you start to experience any kind of natural disaster like this, it's a great wakeup call for being able to be more prepared when the big one hits. And you know we've heard it now for over 30 years, it's not a matter of if, it's a when it's going to happen. So having your supplies, having an exit plan. Like understanding okay if we have an earthquake, we're going to go out the side bedroom door. Having your supplies, your water, your food, your generator.
Clint: And having that stuff not just in one spot, but somewhere where in case you know god forbid your house does collapse or something like that to where you can access it outside of your house. In your vehicle, in an outside shed somewhere where you can store it safely.
Ashlie: Yeah or even underground. I mean that you can get creative with. But it's a matter of just understanding that there's a need to be prepared and this could be with you know any kind of manmade or natural disaster and having something so devastating happen. I know last night we were watching the news and as a byproduct of the earthquake, there was homes that were burned down because of electricity problems, gas leaks. And it really helps to prime agencies and prime the individuals in the community to be able to understand how it is that you're supposed to respond when something like this happens and not having this chaotic scene, which for the most part I didn't really see any kind of chaos on any of the videos that we watched.
Everybody I think for the most part we're pretty used to it and
doing things like screaming and trampling over one another is
obviously not going to help the situation. But there is a sense of
panic where people always talk about fight or flight. But the third
response that people don't talk about is freeze. So there's fight
flight or freeze. And when it comes to an earthquake most
people I think just freeze and watching those videos last night.
You know we paid witness to that because people were just like
looking at each other and like oh shit do you feel that. And
looking at things swaying on the ceiling.
Clint: Pulling out their cell phones to record everything.
Ashlie: Those mother fuckers. Like I will never understand that. Like you could be in potential harm right now and your first instinct is to pop out your cell phone.
Clint: And you see it in so many levels and so many major incidents, not just national disasters but just anything.
Ashlie: Yes, we digress on that one because that’s a whole other episode. But I think a final thought here is to understand the fact that natural and manmade disasters are inevitable. They will always happen as long as you live on the face of this earth. And by experiencing these either personally or as a byproduct by paying witness to it on the news or sharing these experiences with people that you know or even don't know. It's a wakeup call to make sure that you're prepared for the worst-case scenario.
And by being prepared and using these sorts of events as fuel to really allow your mind to be diverse and creative and get in the mindset of what would I do when this happens, then it allows you to come to terms with the fact that it will happen eventually and you need to have a plan b. Talking about it with your families, having that disaster kit in place, knowing where to go to or even if you need some kind of emergency word to share with one another when you're out at a restaurant and one of you sees danger. These are the types of things that I think having an event like this starts to spark and really allows your train of thought to go there, into that dark place for a moment. And it's necessary to do that. Because we're wherever you're at in life, whether you're in an area where you fear tsunamis or tornadoes or us for earthquakes.
We're all also in the reality of knowing that there could be an active shooter just by going into the grocery store. And by having this awareness and having these discussions with your family and the people that you're closest to, especially the people that you live with. It allows you to be a little bit more prepared mentally and when you're prepared mentally and the inevitable does happen and you're a little bit more confident with your abilities and what you think your actions and reactions will be as a byproduct to that, then you're really able to enjoy your tactical living.
Balance. Optimize. Tactics.
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