ShakeOut reminder: Drop, cover, hold on
Event serves as a reminder of earthquake preparedness
The Great California ShakeOut is Thursday at 10:15 a.m.
The annual event, now in its 13th year, reminds Californians and people living in earthquake zones across the world to “drop, cover and hold!”
Humboldt State University emeritus geology professor and earthquake expert Lori Dengler said the event is an “easy, nocost way to significantly reduce the impact of earthquakes.”
“The most important thing (during an earthquake) is not to get up and run outdoors,” Dengler said. “The overwhelming cause of bodily injury during an earthquake comes from people getting up from where they are, running outdoors, and either being struck with debris or tripping and falling.”
The annual drill, which saw more than 21 million people around the world participate in 2019, aims to replace people’s instinct to get up and run with three simple steps — drop, cover and hold.
“The best thing you can do when the ground starts shaking is to get under a desk or table if one is near to you, within a couple feet, or just simply drop to the floor and cover up,” Dengler said.
Californians are also being urged to download the MyShake App, a free alert system for Andriod and iPhone.
The app uses the state’s extensive base of earthquake monitoring equipment to give residents some notice, at least a few seconds worth, that an earthquake is headed their way.
“If an earthquake happens in Petrolia, people in Fortuna may get around 7 seconds of warning and folks in Eureka, about 10 seconds,” Dengler said. “It gives you a chance to mentally prepare. You won’t be as surprised when the shaking starts if you know that it’s coming.”
For the first time, 2020’s
ShakeOut event will partner with the MyShake App (developed by the California Office of Emergency Services) and just before 10:15 a.m. Thursday, the app will send out a warning alert for Thursday’s emergency drill.
Registration for the ShakeOut can be done at https:// www.shakeout.org/.
Earthquake-Tsunami Fair Goes Virtual
The Earthquake-Tsunami Room has been a fixture at the Humboldt County fair for two decades. Without a fair in 2020 because of the ongoing oronavirus pandemic meant the room was unavailable to the public — until now.
The Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group and the Humboldt Earthquake Education Center at HSU partnered to create the Virtual Earthquake-Tsunami Fair, launched on Tuesday.
“Our virtual fair is an interactive, web-based display that allows visitors to wander through our exhibits much as they would have walked through the real displays,” Dengler, a RCTWG member, said in a news release.
The fair, available at https:// rctwg.humboldt.edu/virtualfair, brings, “together various agencies, students, professors, and alumni is a great example of the strength of the campus community,” Dengler said.