During National Preparedness Month, many people are looking for ways to get involved in preparedness. In addition to creating your family emergency plan and getting a kit, I encourage your family, office, and community to participate in the Great California ShakeOut earthquake drill, coming up on October 20 at 10:20 a.m. Pacific Time.
FEMA is hosting a webinar on the ShakeOut tomorrow at 2pm EST that will help participants understand what the ShakeOut is and how to participate. A recording of the webinar will be available in the webinar library.
The ShakeOut provides a tangible way to participate in preparedness by focusing on the potentially life-saving actions of “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” during and immediately after an earthquake. The recent earthquake on the East Coast shows that earthquakes can happen practically anytime, anywhere, so I encourage you to participate even if you don’t live in California.
To join, go to ShakeOut.org/register and pledge your family, school, business, or organization’s participation in the drill. It’s free to sign up, and registered participants will receive information on how to plan their drill and how to talk with others about earthquake preparedness.
I hope you will join us in making the 2011 ShakeOut drill the largest preparedness event in U.S. history and join the 7.6 million people that have already signed up to participate.
While the Great California ShakeOut is coming up in less than a month, planning for other ShakeOut events is already underway. You may remember the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut from earlier this year, where over 3 million people across 11 states practiced earthquake safety. Here’s a look at the upcoming ShakeOut events:
- October 20, 2011: California, Oregon, Nevada, Guam
- February 7, 2012: Central United States – Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas
- April 17, 2012: Utah
If your state does not have its own ShakeOut, you can plan to drill on one of the dates above – anyone can participate!
For more information on ShakeOut earthquake drills, visit Shakeout.org and learn about getting prepared for earthquakes at Ready.gov/earthquakes.
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