Andrea V. Brambila
Gina Ferrante was a teacher in the San Gabriel Valley when the Whittier Narrows earthquake struck early in the school day in 1987. Her classroom caved in, and she evacuated panicked students.
Now assistant principal of San Francisco's Balboa High School, Ferrante has been the major force behind emergency preparedness efforts there in the last three years.
“I have a sense of urgency having experienced a major earthquake during school,” Ferrante said.
But schools housing more than one million K-12 students in the disaster-prone Bay Area vary widely in how they’re preparing for the next Big One. While some schools have food, water and even chemical toilets in each classroom, others have nothing more than a first aid kit.
When it comes to disaster preparedness in Berkeley, the haves get a definite edge over the have-nots.
City officials warn residents to expect to be without government help for at least five days after a major disaster. They expect neighborhood preparedness groups to take care of basic supplies and minor casualties while police and fire departments deal with acute emergencies. So the city gives emergency supply kits to neighborhood groups that have done the most training.
As a result, the bulk of emergency supplies and trained residents are in the most affluent parts of Berkeley, while the denser, lower income neighborhoods have been left with fewer resources. The four districts that represent North Berkeley and the hills areas have 23 supply kits, while the other four, in the flatlands, only have 11. South Berkeley’s District 3, which has a high number of rental and public housing units, still only has one kit, while the northeast hills’ District 6, which has largely single-family homes on narrow roads, has eight.
