Great Montana Shake-Out, 19 October 2016

[KA2ODP/7]

The theme of emergency preparedness is prevalent during the months of September and October. This year the state of Montana will once again participate in an earthquake exercise called, “The Great Montana Shake-Out!” The drill is scheduled for 10:19 AM on Wednesday, October 19, 2016. This means that wherever you are at that moment—at home, at work, at school, anywhere—you should Drop, Cover, and Hold-On as if there were a major earthquake occurring at that very moment, and stay in this position for at least 60 seconds. There will not be any freeway closures, power outages, or other simulated effects of the hypothetical earthquake.

The main goal of the Shake-Out is to get Montanans prepared for major earthquakes, so use the earthquake exercise as an opportunity to learn what to do before, during, and after an earthquake. The earthquake drill will not just be a Montana event. Many other states will be participating, as well as various countries around the world! This means that October 19th will be a day of earthquake drills for all locations where such training is relevant.

But how is an earthquake drill relevant to Montana? It may surprise you to find out that Montana is one of the most seismically-active states! Minor earthquakes happen all the time in Montana. Most are small, and usually only felt by persons near the epicenter. In fact, last year an earthquake occurred in the Flathead region, south of Kalispell. It happened on Friday, April 10th, 2015. The quake occurred at 12:45 AM and registered a magnitude of 3.6 on the Richter scale. The center of the quake was 11-miles south-southeast of Kalispell, and about two miles south-southeast of Somers, MT. People felt the quake in Kalispell, Somers, Columbia Falls, Kila, Whitefish, Polson and even as far away as Spokane, WA.

KRTV News interviewed Michael Stickney, director of the Earthquake Studies Office at the Montana Bureau of Mines & Geology. He reported that four to five small earthquakes happen in Montana every day, but most can't be felt. As a result, the vast majority of these earthquakes are minor, and are primarily of interest only to geologists and researchers. Mr. Stickney went on to say, "There is a seismic belt, known as the Intermountain Seismic Belt, that passes through the western one third of the state. Small earthquakes are very common within this zone, which runs more or less from Yellowstone Park up to about Flathead Lake." In regards to the earthquake near Lincoln, Mr. Stickney commented, "At a magnitude of 3.6 it is certainly large enough for people to feel and notice. But the shaking in general would be too weak to cause any damage to structures or buildings."

There will be an opportunity for ARES members to participate in the upcoming “Great Montana Shake-Out”. As the ARES Emergency Coordinator for Cascade County, I will be briefly activating the North Central Montana Emergency Communications Net and looking for check-ins from anyone who might be monitoring. This will take place first on the 146.740 MHz repeater. I will also check on the 147.300 MHz local repeater, the 147.120 MHz King’s Hill repeater, the 146.680 MHz MRLA repeater and 146.520 MHz simplex. The results will be relayed to George (AA7GS), our ARRL Montana Section Manager, who will in turn relay the results to the state Emergency Operations Center (EOC) down in Helena.

[KA2ODP/7]

Thanks to everyone who participated in the "Great Montana Shake-out" for 2016. We had a total of 24 contacts over three repeaters. Contact was made with hams in 8 different counties across Montana. Most of the "distant" contacts were made on the 146.680 MHz repeater, which is part of the Montana Repeater Link Association (MRLA) network. We also had Gail, WA7LAD check in from Lewistown (Fergus County) over the 146.740 MHz Highwood-Baldy repeater.

Its great that we can span the distance between Great Falls and Lewistown with the 146.740 MHz repeater. Its also nifty that thanks to MRLA, we were able to reach out to places like Cardwell, Reed Point, Belgrade, and Billings, MT. These 2-meter repeaters, and their links, could play a vital roll in disaster recovery when the next "big one" hits. A big "Thank You!" to all the repeater custodians who keep these repeater sites on the air 24 / 7 / 365. Too many hams take these repeaters for granted day in and day out. If you "hang-out" on a local repeater and make use of it, PLEASE support that repeater by paying dues to the club that is operating it. It would be even better if you got active with the club - but if nothing else, at least chip-in and help support the repeater through your dues. Repeater systems are not cheap, and are often located in hard to reach mountain top locations. The dedicated repeater custodians have to work hard to keep them going, especially after a long winter of high winds and snow lashing the repeater site.

By the way, the check-in results were passed on to George, AA7GS, who happens to be our ARRL Montana Section Manager and the Montana ARES Coordinator. George was operating our HF station at the Cascade County DES building. He relayed the results down to the state Emergency Operations Center (EOC) down in Helena on 3880 kHz, the statewide ARES HF frequency for Montana.

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

73 de
Bruce, KA2ODP/7
ARES Emergency Coordinator for Cascade County