Bay Area participates in world's largest earthquake drill

BAY AREA (KTVU) - People around the Bay Area participated in the world's largest earthquake drill this morning, according to event organizers.

The Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills linked together individuals, school districts, businesses, emergency services personnel and local, state and federal government agencies, among other groups, in one massive,
worldwide earthquake drill that took place at precisely 10:20 a.m. today.

"The Great ShakeOut takes place to encourage individuals, communities, schools and organizations to practice what to do in an earthquake and to update their emergency plans and supplies," said American Red Cross of Northern California CEO Trevor Riggen.

In San Francisco, more than 450,000 people were registered to participate in the event, joining an estimated 20 million participants worldwide, according to San Francisco Department of Emergency Management
spokeswoman Daniella Cohen.

The city's main event took place at Bret Harte Elementary School. Students planned a duck-and-cover-and-hang-on drill and then got earthquake preparedness advice from police Chief Toney Chaplin, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and Michael Dayton, deputy director of the city's Division of Emergency Services.

"It's a fun and light-hearted way to get youth and students engaged in earthquake preparedness drills," Cohen said. "And hey, let's check out our emergency supplies. Do we have what we need? Are they in a safe place? Are they accessible? What's our family plan? Do we have an out-of-area contact?"

The annual event, which started in California in 2008, includes participants in all nine Bay Area counties and is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the California Earthquake Authority and AAA, with the Red Cross also participating.

The drills help instill a kind of "muscle memory" in people so that when an earthquake hits, they won't have to spend too much time thinking about what they should do next, Red Cross spokeswoman Cynthia Shaw said.

"Also, on Monday it was the 27th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake and many people who are here now weren't in the Bay Area during Loma Prieta," Shaw said.

The drills are an important way to remind long-time residents and alert new arrivals to the need to remain prepared for a major earthquake, she said.

More information about earthquake safety and the ShakeOut events can be found at www.shakeout.org.