Great ShakeOut

Someone not familiar was the University of Southern California's campus might have thought they had stepped onto the site of a natural disaster had they visited Thursday, Nov. 13. 

Students ducked under their desks, smoke filled the Schoenberg Institute building and people covered in blood were being carried away on stretchers. But there wasn't an

y shaking, the smoke was actually machine generated and the blood wasn't real.  

USC was participating in the Great Southern California ShakeOut drill, the largest earthquake preparedness drill in United States history, according to the ShakeOut website. 

More than 5.3 million people registered to participate in the earthquake drill by dropping, 

covering and holding to simulate a magnitude 7.8 earthquake centered on the San Andreas Fault, an earthquake that a recent study has shown is 99 percent likely in the next 30 years. 

USC Participation 

USC acted as one of the main sites for the drill, inspecting buildings, treating wounded people and identifying unsafe buildings along withe encouraging all classrooms and offices to participate in the earthquake simulation that morning. 

"USC was a major drill site. All of Southern California did the drop, cover, and hold on drill," said Steve Goldfarb, a fire safety and emergency planning specialist at USC. 

The USC Fire Safety and Emergency Planning department coordinated the drill on campus, activating the university's emergency response plan and coordinating the operations of the drill. 

While many buildings were inspected, only the Schoenberg Institute building was used as a victim rescue site. Volunteers covered in makeup designed to look like blood lay hidden throughout the building for search and rescue teams to find. Once they were discovered, victims were transported to Cromwell Field for triage and medical treatment simulations. 

"We did two and a half years of planning to get where we are now," Goldfarb said. 

The Study

Planning for the drill included taking into account a recent study released by the Southern California Earthquake Center that announced that an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude or large is 99.7 percent likely in the state of California during the next 30 years. The probability of an earthquake of the same magnitude hitting the Los Angeles area in the next 30 years is 67 percent, according to the study. 

This study played a large role in prompting a group of nonprofit organizations, businesses and education partners known as the Earthquake Country Alliance, of which SCEC is a part of, to organize the drill, said Thomas Jordan, director of SCEC and a professor at USC. 

"The center was very involved," Jordan said. "The drill was based on earthquake simulation that was developed at the earthquake center." 

Thought more than five million people participated in the "drop, cover, and hold on" activity at 10 a.m. on the morning of the drill, approximately 500 student, faculty and staff volunteers at USC helped organize the much larger mass casualty and building inspection drill.

"We had a field drill where we had 100 people injured," Goldfarb said. "That piece was something not a lot of places did that we did." 

To garner enough volunteers for the drill, the USC Fire Safety and Emergency Planning called upon 70 student and faculty volunteers, who make up a program known at the Community Emergency Response Team, to help with search and rescue activities. 

"I was a member of a three-person search and rescue team that worked in the Schoenberg building," said Paul Jansson, a student member of CERT who underwent a seven-week program to be certified. "I checked various vital signs to determine in which order they should be treated."

Though he understood that he was participating in a drill, Jansson said the practice was valuable in helping him understand what could happen in a real earthquake. 

"I think we did as good as we could do under the circumstances," he said. "They did a really good job on it. The makeup looked really good. We discovered really quickly what the problems would be." 

How the Drill "Shook Out"

The purpose of the drill was to assess the effectiveness of the university's emergency response plan, which is detailed on the USC website. In the weeks after the drill, the emergency planning team has been working to evaluate the drill's results. 

"Every department determined what went well and what could be worked on," Goldfarb said. 

So far, he said, only minor complications have come to their attention, such as ensuring certain medical supplies are available and making sure all members of the search and rescue team are in constant communication. 

"I think there will probably be a lot of issues when the real thing actually happens because this was planned [two years] in advance," Jansson said. "There would be a lot of hiccups." 

Across Southern California, many other institutions were also instructed to evaluate the efficiency of their emergency response plans. 

"Looked to me like it was very, very successful," Jordan said of the entire drill. "A lot of agencies realized their plans were inadequate."

Goldfarb is confident the drill showed that USC's emergency response plan will protect students in the event of an earthquake. 

"If anything, [the drill] showed we did really good planning and training," he said. 

And if a large earthquake does happen in the Los Angeles area, Goldfarb reminded students to drop, cover and hold on before they do anything else. 

"The emergency response plan will kick in and we will provide whatever you need." 

To view more photos of the drill, click here!

Be Prepared

In the case of a large earthquake in Southern California, it is important for everyone to prepare their homes. Here are seven steps from the Southern California Earthquake Center on ways to make your home and yourselves safe in the event of an earthquake:

1. Identify hazards in your home and fix them.

Look for items in your home that are heavy and would cause damage if they fell or items that are valuable and would be a loss if broken. Then make sure you secure these to the wall or ground. Also move bookcases or other large items away from sofas or beds.

2. Create a disaster preparedness plan. 

If you live with other people, discuss with them what everyone will do during an earthquake. Locate the safe spots in your house where you can duck, cover and hold. Select a designated
meeting location outside your house and create a list of important contact information to reach friends and relatives. Also make sure you have copies of important documents in an accessible location.

3. Create a disaster supplies kit. 

This should include a basic first-aid kit and medication anyone in your family might

need. Also keep bottled water, snacks, cooking utensils and games to keep people busy if they are left without power or outside their home. Also bring extra socks and blankets for cold weather. Further, keep a list of contact information, extra cash and road maps in case you need to evacuate the area.

4. Identify your building's weaknesses and fix them.
Look for inadequate foundations, soft first stories, unbraced cripple walls and unreinforced masonry. Contact a contractor to have any of these problems fixed.

5. DROP, COVER and HOLD ON if an earthquake does occur.
If you are inside, look for a chair, desk or table to crawl underneath. If these are not available, avoid windows and large pieces of furniture. Stay in bed if you are in your bed when the earthquake occurs. If you are outside, move to a clear area and avoid trees, power lines, houses and other hazards. If the earthquake occurs while you are driving, pull over to the side of the road and stop your vehicle but do not exit the vehicle until the shaking has stopped.

6. After the earthquake, check for injuries and damage.
If you are injured during the earthquake, stay where you are and alert others to your location. Once you have taken care of yourself, check others for injuries. After all people involved in the earthquake have been taken care of, check your home for damage. Look for fire, gas leaks, broken electronics and downed power lines. Be sure to watch out for aftershocks!

7. When it is safe, follow the emergency preparedness plan you created.
Meet up with your family and begin to enact your emergency plan. If your home is safe, maintain connectivity through the TV or radio to get regular updates. Also make sure you find a source of food and water immediately. Aftershocks can happen for about two weeks after the main earthquake so make sure to restock emergency supplies and stay alter.

Earthquake Study Shakes up California

For many Southern Californians, small earthquakes are nothing to get shaken up about. But according to a new study, a major earthquake is likely to rock Southern California in the next 30 years.

A survey conducted by the Southern California Earthquake Center predicts that an earthquake of at least 6.7 magnitude has a 99.7 percent chance to to hit California in the next 30 years, and an earthquake of 7.5 magnitude or higher has a 46 percent chance of hitting California in the next 30 years.

The fault with the greatest probability of generating an earthquake is the San Andreas fault, which runs roughly 800 miles through California. The last major earthquake the San Andreas fault generated was a 6.0 earthquake in September 2004 known as the Parkfield earthquake. 

The northern section of the fault was also responsible for the historic 1906 earthquake in San Fransisco that killed about 3,000 people.

"What the study indicated is that the Southern San Andreas Fault is the most dangerous fault in California," said Thomas Jordan, director of the SCEC and a professor of earth sciences at USC, where the center is located. 

The Facts

- California has a 99.7% chance of having a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake in the next 30 years

- The likelihood of a magnitude 7.5 or larger earthquake in the next 30 years is 46%

- The probability of an earthquake magnitude 6.7 or larger hitting the Los Angeles area in the next 30 years is 67% and 63% for the San Francisco Bay area

- The fault with the highest possibility of generating an earthquake is the San Andreas Fault

Photos of the Drill

Look here for more photos from the Great Southern California ShakeOut drill at the University of Southern California!