Last week the California Academy of Sciences opened its newest exhibit: Earthquake. It is an awesome combination of seismic science (who’d have thought that African ostrich chicks and earthquakes have so much in common) and earthquake preparedness education. We were fortunate to be able to work with the exhibit designers regarding the earthquake preparedness section content, and are elated to see the exhibit come to ‘life’.

We got up very early, we dressed in 1906 style, and we joined our fellow San Franciscans in commemorating one of the most significant natural disasters in California's history.

As we close this year’s National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) week, DEM wants to highlight the recipients of the 14th Annual EMS Agency and SF Paramedic Association Award Program. Aligning with this year’s National EMS Week theme, EMS: more than a job. It’s a calling, the recipients of this year’s EMS Awards were honored for their dedication and commitment to the field of emergency medical services and those they aid.

In this week’s DEM Blog, we are sharing the message created by the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. Meanwhile, DEM will be a part of the festivities by activating the City’s Emergency Operations Center to ensure coordination, communication and situational awareness, which is what we regularly do to support San Francisco’s cultural value to celebrate!

Great news on the preparedness front: SF Heroes is now available on both iPhone and Android! And last week we finished filming the last scene for our SF Heroes smart phone app ‘commercial’. The minute and a half video is intended to explain what the app does and why it is important in a fun and virally amusing way.

A few DEM Blogs ago, we wrote about spring being a Season of Preparedness (Tis the Season for Spring Preparedness).

The 45^th Cherry Blossom Festival is taking place this weekend in San Francisco’s Japantown. What great way to spend the weekend and enjoy one of San Francisco’s most beautiful neighborhoods. This year’s festival will celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. and will also pay tribute to the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service comprised of all Japanese American soldiers receiving the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.

As we commemorate the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, which took place at 5:12 a.m.

During last week’s San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting at City Hall, 9-1-1 Dispatcher Stephen Golden received a commendation for being DEM’s Dispatcher of the Year. Stephen was selected for this honor based on his outstanding work during a 9-1-1 call from a visitor to San Francisco, who needed to send medical aid to her family residence in Columbia, Maryland. The caller explained she was visiting San Francisco to speak at a symposium and that when she called home, her three year old son answered the phone and told her his father was lying on the floor in the closet.

A few weeks ago DEM posted about our experience visiting the Safe Enough to Stay exhibit at the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). The exhibit is free and available to anyone interested in learning how to make their home safe enough to stay after an earthquake. The last day the exhibit is open is April 18th, which also marks the 106th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.