Interviewer: Mark, how are you connected to the Great
Southern California ShakeOut?
Mark Bassett: Well, as southern region administrator
for the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, my
main responsibility is the response aspects of an
earthquake such as this. So with the ShakeOut, I’m
responsible for the exercise part of this and making
sure our people are ready in the event we have an event.
How are you utilizing the science of the ShakeOut in
your response preparedness?
Quite a bit. One of the things that we really
appreciate from USGS is the fact that they are giving
us tools to actually look at what could happen
during this event. And if by using those tools with
some of the science they put into this, it has really
helped us as far as honing in on the various issues
that we want to look at and how we can do things better.
Can you speak a little bit in particular to how the
fact that this scenario is based on real science has
made a difference in your efforts?
Well, because we’re using social models in some of the
issues and the tools they’re using, it has been able to,
for instance the water issue, as far as what type of
pipelines are broken. That’s going to be really important
to this earthquake because a lot of areas are going
to be affected and have no water. And based on their
science and some of the things that they’ve looked at
and the type of piping that we use, that’s important
for us to know where we’re going to need to really help
people as far as getting water to them, making sure
they have proper sewage issues taken care of.
This is obviously a huge event for Southern California.
Looking at the event, what inspires you the most?
What are you most proud of?
Well, one of the things, Californians are pretty
resilient. We’ve had wildfires, we’ve had major storms
that have really affected particular areas and killed
some people. This event, the fact that we’re able to
do this type of event in conjunction with the ShakeOut
that USGS is heading up, it has really inspired us to
really get down and roll up our sleeves and really look
at the situation and really plan on how we would
basically attack this type of event, how we can effect
a good response and making sure we don’t have a
Katrina event ourselves.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
No, I just want to thank USGS for everything they’ve done
for us, everything that they provided to our local
governments, our operational areas, to our federal
partners and our state partners. And we really
appreciate all the hard work that they’ve put on to
basically give us a good event that we can practice
for the real event.
All right. Well, thank you, Mark, and good luck in your efforts.
Thank you.