Beneath California lies the San Andreas Fault, which has the seismic potential to devastate the Golden State beyond our expectations.
To develop familiarity with earthquake preparedness, UCLA is participating in the 2009 Great California ShakeOut drill today.
Based on a large magnitude earthquake, the ShakeOut drill is a state-wide program that provides individuals with an opportunity to organize their disaster plans in the event of an actual earthquake emergency, said Michael Stajura, a fourth-year community health sciences graduate student.
A Drop, Cover and Hold On exercise will be held from 10:15 to 10:20 a.m., according to a statement from Jack Powazek, the associate vice chancellor for general services. On UCLA Cable Channel 3 and AM 1630, a three-minute Drop, Cover and Hold On audio simulcast will be played during the exercise.
Expanded from the first Great Southern California ShakeOut drill held last year, this year’s drill encompasses the entire state with more than 6.7 million registered participants, according to the ShakeOut Web site.
“The drill also presents an opportunity to discuss your personal readiness plans, review the campus emergency prevention and preparedness programs, and become familiar with the campus emergency communications systems,” according to the statement.
For example, campus mass notification systems, like BruinAlert text messages, outdoor sirens, and Twitter and Facebook resources, will be tested.
Debbie Weiser, a doctoral student in the earth and space sciences program who is involved in the publicity for the drill, explained that individuals should practice earthquake emergency drills so that in the event of an actual earthquake, they can behave readily and appropriately.
“Practice it. Studies have shown that repetition actually makes this work. If you haven’t already practiced what you’re going to do in the event of an emergency, you don’t do it,” Weiser said. “Think about reactions and how to appropriately handle situation versus freaking out. Freaking out is going to cause mass hysteria, and that’s a very bad thing to do.”
A Southern California earthquake has the ability to cause $213 billion in damages, displace 270,000 persons, and cause 50,000 injuries and 1,800 deaths based on the hypothetical scenario created by an interdisciplinary team of 300 scientists, Stajura said.
Stajura, who is also the volunteer coordinator of the Community Emergency Response Team at UCLA, added that in the event of a disastrous earthquake, UCLA’s current plan is to evacuate the campus. However, this plan raises some safety concerns, as damaged roads are expected to hinder transportation for evacuees and for emergency personnel providing medical aid, he said.
Various departments on campus have already established some degree of an emergency plan, Stajura said.
For example, the UCLA School of Law has purchased supplies for people to have some level of shelter and first aid and has also organized a team that will search buildings during an emergency.
With the same desires for preparedness, the Office of Residential Life has promoted emergency supplies by distributing fliers to parents about purchasing emergency kits for their children at UCLA, he added.
Sarah Strandberg, a third-year neuroscience student who is a member of the American Red Cross at UCLA, said she hopes the ShakeOut drill will inform students, especially freshmen and those from out of state, about the potentials of a great Southern California earthquake.
“In an earthquake situation, a lot of phone lines get jammed when everyone tries to call their relatives ““ kind of like at the Rose Bowl when everyone tries to send a text, and it takes a half-hour. So what’s really smart to do is have an out-of-state contact when local land lines get jammed,” she added.
Weiser encourages students to consider the ShakeOut drill as a learning opportunity to think about emergency situations.
“The goal of this is to get people interested in their own safety because it’s super important. No one’s going to look after you to make sure that you are dropping, covering and holding on,” she said. “That’s your responsibility, and you really need to take care of yourself in this situation because it might be awhile until somebody could get to you if you’re not doing the right thing.”
At Bruin Plaza today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., interested individuals can purchase discounted American Red Cross kits and emergency aid supplies.