USC participates in earthquake drill

On Thursday at 10:17 a.m. students and faculty across campus took a moment during classes to drop, cover and hold.

In an effort to raise awareness of earthquake preparedness, USC participated in the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history, the Great California ShakeOut. The statewide earthquake readiness campaign is organized by the Earthquake Country Alliance led by the Southern California Earthquake Center, which is headquartered at USC.

“Everyone, everywhere should know how to protect themselves in an earthquake,” said Lance Webster, a media consultant for ShakeOut. “It’s important for students to know the moment you feel shaking you should drop to the ground.”

Event organizers posted fliers around campus and sent emails out to students, staff and faculty at USC to encourage everyone to take a moment to drop, cover and hold. Additionally 200 staff and faculty members volunteered as USC ShakeOut Ambassadors, who assisted in facilitating the event and reminding classrooms to participate in the drill.

Students such as Anne Stachofsky, an undeclared sophomore, are thankful for the opportunity the event provides to practice earthquake safety.

“Living in California, earthquakes are definitely something we should be prepared for especially since they are so rare that unless you are practiced in what to do, you might not have any previous experience,” Stachofsky said.

The Southern California area is supposedly 150 years overdue for a major earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. This major earthquake is projected to be in the 7.8 range on the Richter scale. That is 25 times the power of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake that killed nearly 100 people and caused more than $20 billion in damage.

“People here at the Southern California Earthquake Center have a responsibility to let Southern California know about this danger, so we created the Great Southern California ShakeOut six years ago in order to do that,” Webster said.

In the first year of the event, there were more than 5 million participants. Since then, popularity of the event has nearly doubled. This year, 9.6 million people in California registered to participate, breaking last year’s record.

In the event that a major earthquake does take place, the USC Dept. of Public Safety has specific plans in place to protect students and faculty. According to USC Fire Safety and Emergency Planning Specialist Steve Goldfarb, each building on campus has a trained team of staff to tend to immediate needs for that building after an earthquake.

“These teams of individuals are trained to deal with emergency response measures and evacuation,” Goldfarb said. “We also have a team of 300 individuals who compose the Campus Emergency Response Team trained in search and rescue, triage and first aid.”

Many students are unaware of the appropriate measures to take during an earthquake, and Thursday’s drill aimed to educate those students, Goldfarb said. Josh Byun, an undecided sophomore, said he was one of these students.

“I don’t think I would feel super prepared if an earthquake happened,” Byun said. “I just know you are supposed to get under something sturdy, but that is about it.”

According to Webster, an important part of the event is to educate students who come from states or countries where earthquakes are not common.

“Students may be from somewhere else other than Southern California, but if there is an earthquake while they are here they need to know what to do,” he said. “No one would be immune if a major earthquake happens in our state.”

Students who participated in the drill in class had mixed opinions.

“I slept through it, but our earthquakes professor made us do the drop, cover and hold drill in class [earlier], and it was actually really helpful,” said Lily Mo, a sophomore majoring in business administration. “Sometimes we forget to look towards the ceiling when we’re scoping out possible threats and forget things like chandeliers or projectors that could actually really hurt us.”

Camille Bradshaw, an undeclared sophomore from Oregon, said she appreciated the drill because she has never experienced an earthquake.

“I think it’s really important that we practice what to do in an earthquake especially for students like me who are not from here,” Bradshaw said. “It’s definitely a good thing that they are trying to make students more aware of the protocol of what to do in an emergency.”

Students, staff and faculty can find additional resources for earthquake preparedness on the Campus Safety and Emergency Preparedness and ShakeOut websites.

 

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