UC Riverside will join the Great California ShakeOut in testing earthquake preparedness on Thursday, Oct. 19.
Students, staff, and faculty members will be asked to “drop, cover, and hold on” for one minute during the earthquake drill that will start at 10:19 a.m.
The campus will test its emergency communication systems during the self-led drill, including text, email, and voicemail alerts. Last month, employees were asked to verify their personal phone numbers for the Emergency Notification System.
Emergency messages will also be posted on social media, all campus digital screens, and some campus websites.
Emergency officials say the safest response to an earthquake is to drop, cover, and hold on. That involves dropping to your hands and knees, covering your head and neck with one hand, crawling under a table or desk for shelter if nearby, and holding on until the shaking stops.
“The ShakeOut gives the campus the opportunity to evaluate the preparedness of students, staff, and faculty members, as well as UCR’s emergency notification system,” said Andy Flores, director of UCR’s Office of Emergency Services.
Faculty members and graduate students from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences will have a booth near the bell tower from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will include 3-D models of the area’s faults, maps, and other information about seismic risks.
Volunteers plan to promote earthquake preparedness and encourage participation in the ShakeOut drill as well as participating themselves, said Abhijit Ghosh, an associate professor of geophysics leading the booth.
The UCR branch of the UC Disaster Resilience Network will also be providing information at the booth about the volunteer network of faculty, staff, and students from UC campuses. The group will be encouraging people to sign-up for efforts such as emergency response training.
Christopher Chase-Dunn, a retired UCR sociologist and the co-lead of the campus branch, said the group hopes to create a systemwide training program and will be increasing its participation in future Shake Outs with disaster enactments.
“The main idea is preparedness for disasters and planning for resilience,” he said.
Additional resources on the drill are available from the Office of Emergency Management’s emergency plans page or by emailing emergency@ucr.edu. For general information on the drill throughout Southern California, visit shakeout.org/california. For earthquake preparedness tips, please visit 7 Steps to Earthquake Safety.
