Get ready for ShakeOut, California’s largest earthquake drill Thursday at 10:15 a.m.
EC will be participating in the Great California ShakeOut by alerting students to drop, cover and hold on.
“Every year the entire state participates in an earthquake drill as if it were a real earthquake,” Chief of Police Mike Trevis said.
According to the ShakeOut’s Web site, its purpose is to allow students to practice how to protect themselves and for everyone to become prepared in the events of a real earthquake.
“Fear (in times of crisis) leads to confusion. Students might not know what to do or where to go, which causes them to panic,” Lt. Raymond Box said.
“[Faculty and students] need to know where the evacuation areas are so if others are confused they could help them out,” Box said.
The ShakeOut’s Web site recommends people avoid being near windows or hanging objects during the time of an earthquake. The best place to be is somewhere that you can get yourself under to protect your body from falling objects.
“Most people get hurt because they don’t duck or cover, they panic so their first instinct is to run and that’s when something falls down on them and they get hurt,” Trevis said.
In the event of a major earthquake a panic may ensue, which means emergency services may take longer to arrive, Trevis said.
“Emergency services might get tied up with all the calls they receive,” Trevis said. “It’s important that (students and faculty) are prepared by having extra water and food bars in their backpack or car.”
Box is hoping this year’s drill goes smoother than last year and less time is wasted.
“Our goals for this year’s drill is to have everyone safely out of the buildings in under 30 minutes and to cut down on mistakes,” Box said.
Each building is assigned a captain to orderly evacuate everyone into the designated areas.
“This all about safety and getting everyone talking about earthquake preparedness,” Trevis said.
Students like Mario Hernandez, 21, film major, are already talking about getting prepared.
“I plan to learn more about earthquake preparedness because what if it does happen? I wouldn’t know where to go if I was on campus,” Hernandez said.
Students who prepare for this event can help others do the same by helping the whole event go smoothly and effectively, Trevis said.
“The more (students) that know about this drill and what to do will have more of us prepared, which will make this a lot less stressful,” Hernandez said.
Be prepared for your safety as well as those around you.
“Re-educating students reminds them what they need to do, repetition is important because then (students and faculty) can work on there past mistakes,” Box said.