The Great ShakeOut- Mark Bassett Interview

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.

Interviewer:  How are you utilizing the science of the ShakeOut in your response preparedness?

Mark Bassett:  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.

Interviewer:  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?

Mark Bassett:  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.

Interviewer:  This is obviously a huge event for Southern California.  Looking at the event, what inspires you the most?  What are you most proud of?

Mark Bassett:  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.

Interviewer:  Is there anything else you would like to add?

Mark Bassett:  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.

Interviewer:  All right.  Well, thank you, Mark, and good luck in your efforts.

Mark Bassett:  Thank you.