Surv · Guides
How to prepare for an earthquake: Drop, Cover, Hold On
How to secure your home, what to do during the shaking with Drop, Cover, and Hold On, and what to check afterwards, from Ready.gov, ShakeOut and the Red Cross.
In this guide16
What preparation can change
The American Red Cross explains that deaths and injuries in earthquakes occur when people fall trying to walk or run during the shaking, or when they are hit by falling debris. That tells you where preparation pays: reducing what can fall on you, and knowing, without thinking, what to do in the first seconds. Earthquakes arrive without warning, so everything useful has to be decided in advance.
Secure your space
Ready.gov advises securing heavy items in your home, such as bookcases, refrigerators, water heaters, televisions and objects that hang on walls, and storing heavy and breakable objects on low shelves. The Red Cross suggests imagining the room being picked up and shaken up and down and side to side, then asking which items could fall and injure you. Straps, hooks, latches and other safety devices are widely available, and the Earthquake Country Alliance publishes detailed advice on securing furniture, appliances and cabinets.
Make a household plan
Your household may not be together when it happens. Ready.gov's planning advice is to know how you will contact one another and reconnect if separated, and to establish a meeting place that is familiar and easy to find. The Red Cross adds planning to stay connected and being ready to live without power, gas and water. Ready.gov's safety skills advice asks everyone in the household to learn how to shut off the main water valve to the house.
A bag beside the bed
The Red Cross describes a bed kit: a bag of supplies attached to your bed for an earthquake that happens while you sleep. It includes sturdy shoes, because glass is one of the most common earthquake injuries, a flashlight, glasses and a dust mask. It is a small version of the go-bag, and it answers a specific problem: getting out of a dark room with broken glass on the floor.
Records and insurance
The Red Cross suggests keeping personal, financial and medical records safe and easy to access, as hard copies or securely backed up, and keeping a list of your medications and doses on a small card you carry. In the United States, Ready.gov notes that a standard homeowner's insurance policy does not cover earthquake damage, and the Red Cross says earthquakes are generally not covered by household or renters' insurance. Check your own policy, wherever you live, before you need it.
Practise with everyone
The Red Cross asks you to practise Drop, Cover, and Hold On with your entire household so everyone knows what to do. ShakeOut, the public earthquake drill, puts it simply: everyone, everywhere, should learn and practise what to do during an earthquake, whether at home, work, school or travelling. Practice turns a paragraph you once read into a movement you make before you have finished being surprised.
Drop to your hands and knees
ShakeOut and Ready.gov describe the same first step. In most situations, if you feel shaking or get an earthquake alert, drop where you are onto your hands and knees. ShakeOut explains why: this position protects you from being knocked down and reduces your chances of being hit by falling or flying objects. Do not try to move somewhere else first.
Cover your head and neck
Cover your head and neck with one arm and hand. If a sturdy table or desk is nearby, crawl underneath it for shelter. If no shelter is nearby, crawl next to an interior wall, away from windows, as Ready.gov specifies. Stay on your knees and bend over to protect your vital organs. These instructions come from ShakeOut and Ready.gov and are worded almost identically by both.
Hold on until the shaking stops
Hold on until the shaking stops. If you are under a shelter, hold on to it with one hand and be ready to move with it if it shifts. If you have no shelter, hold on to your head and neck with both arms and hands. ShakeOut stresses that the main point is not to try to move but to protect yourself immediately, as well as possible, where you are.
What not to do
Ready.gov says that if you are inside, stay inside and do not run outside, and avoid doorways. ShakeOut's explanation of Drop, Cover, and Hold On describes running outside, standing in a doorway and the so-called triangle of life as dangerous or outdated recommendations. Many people remember the doorway advice from childhood; it is one of the things worth unlearning.
In bed, outdoors or driving
If you are in bed, Ready.gov says to turn face down and cover your head and neck with a pillow; the Red Cross says to stay there and cover your head and neck. If you are outside, stay there and move to an open area away from buildings, trees, streetlights and power lines. If you are driving, the Red Cross says to stop and stay in your vehicle, avoiding buildings, trees, overpasses and utility wires, then proceed cautiously and avoid bridges or ramps.
If you use a cane, walker or wheelchair
ShakeOut gives adapted instructions. If you use a cane, drop, cover and hold on, or sit on a chair or bed and cover your head and neck with both hands, keeping the cane near you for when the shaking stops. If you use a walker or wheelchair, lock your wheels if applicable; with a walker, carefully get as low as possible. Bend over, cover your head and neck with your arms, a book or a pillow, and hold on until the shaking stops.
After: aftershocks and damaged buildings
Ready.gov warns to expect aftershocks and to be ready to Drop, Cover, and Hold On again if you feel one. If you are in a damaged building, go outside and quickly move away from it, and do not enter damaged buildings. If you are in an area that may experience tsunamis, Ready.gov says to go inland or to higher ground immediately after the shaking stops, and to avoid contact with floodwaters.
After: gas, utilities and being trapped
The Red Cross says not to use matches, lighters, appliances or light switches until you are sure there are no gas leaks, because sparks could ignite gas. If you suspect a leak, leave the home and call for help from a safe place, then report it to the utility. If you are trapped, Ready.gov says to send a text or bang on a pipe or wall, cover your mouth with your shirt, and use a whistle instead of shouting; the Red Cross suggests knocking loudly three times every few minutes.
Staying informed and in touch
Once you are safe, Ready.gov suggests following local news and official instructions by battery-powered radio, television, social media or text alerts. It recommends text messages to communicate, as they may be more reliable than phone calls and save battery power. Agree on this with your household in advance, so nobody spends a charged battery trying to get a call through.
Where Surv fits
Surv helps you keep your household plan and supplies inventory on the iPhone, and its guides and signalling tools are available without a network. After an earthquake, though, the phone may be damaged, flat or buried under a shelf. Keep a whistle and shoes by the bed, a paper copy of your meeting place and contacts in the go-bag, and practise the drill until it no longer needs reading.
Questions
What should I do during an earthquake?
Drop onto your hands and knees, cover your head and neck, under a sturdy table if one is near, and hold on until the shaking stops. This is the action recommended by Ready.gov and ShakeOut in most situations.
Should I stand in a doorway during an earthquake?
No. Ready.gov says to avoid doorways, and ShakeOut describes standing in a doorway, running outside and the triangle of life as dangerous or outdated advice.
What if an earthquake happens while I am in bed?
Ready.gov says to turn face down and cover your head and neck with a pillow. A bag by the bed with sturdy shoes and a flashlight, as the Red Cross suggests, helps afterwards.
What should I check after the shaking stops?
Expect aftershocks, leave damaged buildings, and do not use flames, appliances or light switches until you are sure there is no gas leak. Use text messages rather than calls to reach people.
Further reading
Guides
Prepare your phone to be useful when the network is not there
What survives a network outage, why text beats calls when everyone is dialling, how to keep documents readable offline, and how to make a phone last when there is nothing to charge it with.
An emergency kit inventory you will actually maintain
Why kits fail at maintenance rather than at assembly, how to build a list by walking through the box, what to record for each item, and how to run an annual review that takes under an hour.
A home emergency kit: the Ready.gov list, explained
What the United States government actually recommends storing, how much water and food, how to treat suspicious water, what to do when the power goes out, and how to keep the kit current.
What to put in a go-bag: an evacuation checklist
What an evacuation go-bag should hold, using the Red Cross and Ready.gov lists: water, food, medicines, documents, cash, and what each person adds.
How to purify water in an emergency: boil or disinfect
The EPA’s exact steps for boiling water and disinfecting it with unscented bleach, what these methods cannot remove, and how to store treated water.
Power outage checklist: before, during and after
What to prepare before a blackout, how long food stays safe, generator and carbon monoxide rules, and medical devices, from Ready.gov and the Red Cross.
How to use a compass: bearings, maps and declination
The parts of a baseplate compass, how to take and follow a bearing, orient a map, correct for magnetic declination, and avoid readings disturbed by metal.
First aid kit checklist: what the Red Cross recommends
The American Red Cross list for a family first aid kit, item by item, plus personal medicines, where to keep kits, checking expiry dates and getting trained.
What to keep in an offline emergency kit, starting with your phone
A practical checklist for power, information, contacts and basic supplies when networks or electricity are unreliable.
Wildfire evacuation checklist you can prepare in an hour
What Ready.gov asks you to have before a wildfire warning, how to split the list between go-bag, car and house, and why the plan must work with the network down.
Heat wave checklist: staying safe when the power fails
How to prepare a home for extreme heat, what to do when the air conditioning stops, and the warning signs of heat exhaustion and heatstroke to watch for.
Offline emergency preparedness apps, compared
Alert apps, offline reference guides, checklist tools and paper: which ones still work when the network does not, and what to check before you need them.