BEAUFORT, S.C. - Cooled by pleasant breezes and warmed by the ever-present sun, the city of Beaufort (pronounced bew-fert) is South Carolina's second oldest city, founded in 1711. Beaufort's marine setting, marshy lowlands, and lush vegetation comprise today's relaxed surrounding in what is known as the "Low Country."
Beaufort also holds the distinction as the site where South Carolinians drafted the Ordnance of Secession, the document that eventually guided the state of South Carolina to secede from the Union in December 1860. Four months later, in April 1861, the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, 50 miles north. That War, as most know, divided the nation and wounded the Southern United States for many years, well beyond the war's end in 1865.
On April 21-24, 2008, however, Beaufort serves as host to the site of something representative of this nation's unity, not its dysfunction. Here, the South Carolina National Guard administers Operation Vigilant Guard, serving to train its personnel in a simulated earthquake disaster exercise. The local Beaufort community, as well as the government of Beaufort County and other associated emergency management agencies, is participating in the exercise. The National Guard Bureau sent its Public Affairs Rapid Response Team (PARRT) to assist the South Carolina Guard in its duties. The disaster in this case is an earthquake centered in the Low Country, near the city of Charleston.
Besides Beaufort, only Charleston is older among South Carolina cities. A fabled Atlantic port city founded in 1670, Charleston became the most important trade center in the southern Colonies during British rule, a status that continued into the period after the United States achieved its independence after the end of the Revolutionary War. It remains to this day one of our country's best preserved cities, with scores of historic buildings, and a sense of place unmatched elsewhere in the modern South.
The disaster scenario for which the National Guard is practicing holds historical precedent. On August 31, 1886, Charleston experienced a serious earthquake that was felt as far away as Boston, Massachusetts, located about 1000 miles north. Ninety-two people died in the disaster, and property damage totaled millions of dollars. Scientists considered this tremor the worst in the modern history of the southeastern United States.
This occurred a long time ago. Why should an earthquake that occurred 122 years ago even matter? This event carries great relevance because it vividly illustrates the havoc that natural disasters can cause. Presently, what local citizens in South Carolina and elsewhere care about is this: how will community leaders respond when bridges are damaged, or if fire or civil unrest commence in the aftermath of such a disaster?
Though this occurrence took place long ago in relative time, it is important to note that aftershocks from the quake took place nearly 100 years after the event. And, according to the South Carolina Seismic Network based at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, many seismic events ranging from the 3.0 to 4.3 magnitude on the Richter scale took place in the area from 2000-2005. This footnote underscores the need to maintain a high level of readiness and a prepared first response team in order to anticipate the possibility of such an event. Recent natural disasters such as the Loma Prieta, California earthquake of 1989 drive this point home.