Are you and your office ready for the Big One?

Staff at Tokoroa and Taumaranui hospital are gearing up for the country’s biggest earthquake drill organised by Civil Defence later this month.

Their hospitals are taking part in the Shakeout earthquake preparedness campaign leading up to a drill at 9.26am on Wednesday, September 26.

Civil Defence aims to have one million people participate in the drill, and the Waikato District Health Board’s emergency planning team, including representatives from Tokoroa and Taumarunui hospitals, are getting right behind the operation to ‘‘ drop, cover and hold’’ during the drill.

Tokoroa & Taumarunui Shakeout committee chairman John Ingham said patients and visitors would be advised what was happening well before the 9.26am scramble to get under tables and desks or under doorways.

They have already produced a promotional DVD to screen in the hospitals in the leadup, featuring many of the staff from both hospitals.

All New Zealanders are being encouraged to join the exercise, with Civil Defence encouraging the public to be prepared for the ‘‘big one.’’ It is pushing the ‘‘drop, cover and hold’’ advice:

Drop to your hands and knees – before the quake knocks you down.

Cover as much of your body under a sturdy table or other form of shelter, and cover your head and neck with your arms. Hold on until the shaking stops. Civil Defence wants to see a higher level of preparedness for disaster. Having emergency plans, spotting hazards, stocking up emergency gear and having a ‘‘get home’’ kit are included in the exercise.

To register go to shakeout .govt.nz/register.