Community gathers for earthquake preparedness seminar in Pocatello

According to a U.S. geological survey, there is a 57% chance of a 6.0 or greater earthquake to happen in Southeast Idaho in the next 50 years.

On Thursday, Bengal Solutions, along with county commissioners and preparedness personal ran an earthquake preparedness exercise in Pocatello. During the round table event, speakers asked officials and staff what they would do after an earthquake hit the area.

“During this exercise we look at the communication pieces as well as setting up shelters as well as this table topic exercise that we are doing today, we are identifying gaps, areas that we can improve our emergency preparedness,” commented Devon Hughes, the health care liaison for Southeastern Idaho Public Health.

Hughes said Bengal Solutions did research to find out just how much it would cost parts of Southeast Idaho to recover from a natural disaster.

“To recover from a disaster like this [earthquake], for the four counties, Caribou, Oneida, Franklin, Bear Lake County it would cost over 277 million dollars to recover from a disaster like this,” Hughes added.

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