By Mary O’KEEFE

I always know how long ago the Northridge Earthquake occurred because of my earthquake baby.

My OB/GYN told me that he had a feeling that I would not be able to make it to the hospital, St. Joseph in Burbank, in time. He said he wanted to induce labor even though it was about two weeks before my daughter’s due date … but he had this feeling. So on Jan. 14, 1994 I went to the hospital to have my daughter. The birth went well; my doctor was a Trekkie, so how could anything go wrong? In fact, at one point he held a Tricoder over my stomach, looked at it and said, “She’s about ready.” When my brother asked what type of equipment that was and I told him it was a Star Trek toy, it did not build in him confidence toward my doctor but for me it was perfect.

I had my child but she had to stay in the hospital a little longer than we planned and we got home very late on Jan. 16. When we all finally settled – my brother in my son’s bunk bed and my son, husband and newborn all in one bed – we were finally at peace. That lasted only a few hours because at about 4:30 a.m. it felt like a truck had hit the side of our home … and then we heard a lot of rushing water.

Our water heater had shot out of the side of the house. For my brother, who could never be described as a calm person, this was the end of the world. He somehow jumped out of the bunk bed and into our bed in a matter of seconds. My husband, a Southern California native, was eerily calm … the only way California-born people can be during earthquakes and rogue waves. I immediately thought of how amazing my Trekkie doctor was to go with his feeling because he was right – there would be no way I could have made it to the hospital after the quake.

The Northridge Earthquake is one of those Southern California “Where were you when…” moments. Everyone seems to remember where they were – not only on the day it struck, they also remember weeks beyond. That is because the damage was intense.

As a reminder, the earthquake hit on Jan. 17 early in the morning and was a magnitude 6.7. It was centered in Northridge and caused a death toll of 72, including those who suffered heart attacks. (This is an updated death toll from 57.) It also injured thousands. This quake caused up to $20 billion in damage plus another $40–plus billion in economic loss. This was the costliest earthquake disaster in U.S. history, according to Conservation California.

It brings to mind iconic images of freeway overpasses and bridges in ruins, buildings seemingly cut in half and fires popping up and down Lankershim Boulevard.

It has been 30 years since that quake. Although we all remember where we were, the death toll that continued to rise and those terrifying scenes of destruction, we seem to forget that this was a scenario of “not if but when” it will happen again.

I wonder how many of us have prepared for the next big one? Here are the proactive seven steps of preparedness that are suggested from the Earthquake Country Alliance:

Step 1 Secure your space by identifying hazards and securing moveable items. Step 2 Plan to be safe by creating your emergency plan and deciding how you will communicate.

Step 3 Organize emergency supplies in convenient locations.

Step 4 Minimize financial hardship by organizing important documents, strengthening your property and considering insurance coverage.

Step 5 Drop, cover and hold on or perform other recommended actions.

Step 6 Improve safety after earthquakes by evacuating if necessary, helping the injured and preventing further injuries or damages.

Step 7 Reconnect and restore daily life by reuniting with others, repairing damage and rebuilding community.

It is also advised to download applications like Shake Alert or My Shake that will give you a little bit of warning prior to an earthquake. After all, we all can’t have a Trekkie doctor to give us a heads up.

Just a note that despite what we may want to believe there is no “earthquake weather.” We have all heard it: earthquakes come when it is either when it is really hot or there is a lot of rain or drought; unfortunately the weather cannot predict an earthquake.

For our weather we are first looking at an Air Quality Alert that was extended by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) to Wednesday but, as of press time, it had not been extended further. This alert was a mandatory wood-burning ban.

Our temperatures will still be cool but let’s not fool ourselves: We have it pretty good compared to the rest of the nation. Today and Friday our highs will be in the low to mid 60s. There is a 20% chance of rain after 10 p.m. on Friday, a 40% chance of rain after 10 a.m. on Saturday and rain continues through Monday and maybe even into Tuesday. But again in our area: no snow, no sleet and no hail. And just to put it in perspective my hometown of Oskaloosa, Iowa will see highs in the 20s today and a high of 7 degrees on Friday and 3 degrees on Saturday.

Those are the “high” temperatures.