{"id":11537,"date":"2025-10-18T16:05:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T16:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/11537\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T16:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T16:05:11","slug":"california-shakes-it-out-with-statewide-quake-preparedness-drill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/11537\/","title":{"rendered":"California Shakes it Out with statewide quake preparedness drill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Woman<\/a>A woman practices taking cover under a desk during an earthquake. (File photo courtesy Great Shakeout Earthquake Drills)<\/p>\n

Nearly a million San Diego County residents participated Thursday in this year\u2019s Great California ShakeOut, the statewide earthquake preparedness drill, now in its 17th year.<\/p>\n

A total of 980,458 participants were registered in San Diego to stop everything for a minute to \u201cdrop, cover and hold on\u201d at 10:16 a.m. Statewide, more than 10.3 million Californians are registered.<\/p>\n

During last year\u2019s event, about 10.6 million statewide registered to take part. The exercises began in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do to prepare now, before the next big earthquake, will determine how well we can survive and recover,\u201d said a statement posted to ShakeOut.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cGreat ShakeOut earthquake drills are a once-a-year chance for everyone to practice \u2018drop, cover and hold on\u2019 and learn other earthquake safety tips.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., the California Governor\u2019s Office of Emergency Services will bring a \u201cshake trailer\u201d to Waterfront Park, allowing the public to experience a simulated earthquake of up to 7.0 magnitude. The public will also be able to get information about earthquake early warning technology, preparedness tips and recommended life-saving actions.<\/p>\n

Municipalities whose employees were involved in the annual event include Imperial Beach, National City, Oceanside, Santee, Solana Beach and the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis annual event is a perfect reminder to make sure your family and loved ones have an emergency plan,\u201d said Christopher Heiser, executive director of San Diego\u2019s Office of Emergency Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s an earthquake, wildfire, flood, power outage or any other disaster, your home should be adequately supplied in case of an emergency. Resources are available to help San Diegans create their individual emergency plans and be prepared for a disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Virtually all local elementary and high school districts were expected to take part, along with California State University and San Diego Community College District campuses, UC San Diego and the University of San Diego.<\/p>\n

According to ShakeOut.org, the objective is to emphasize precautions during a 7.8-magnitude or larger quake along the southernmost portion of the San Andreas fault.<\/p>\n

Officials believe such a tectonic shift could produce waves of movement for hundreds of miles, over four minutes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, some 2,000 people would die, tens of thousands would be injured and more than $200 billion in damage would result. The cataclysm would have 50 times the intensity of the Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of aftershocks would ensue \u2014 a few of them nearly as big as the original quake, according to the USGS, which also estimates there is a 99% chance of a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake striking California before 2044.<\/p>\n

San Diego County has a 93% chance of a major earthquake within 50 kilometers of the region within the next 50 years. The Rose Canyon Fault, which runs along the coast from La Jolla to Downtown, has an 18% probability of a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake occurring in the next 30 years.<\/p>\n

Californians should be prepared to be self-sufficient for 72 hours following a major disaster. That includes having a first-aid kit, medications, food and enough water for each member of a household to drink one gallon per day, according to local and state officials.<\/p>\n

Homeowners and renters should also know how to turn off the gas in their residences in case of leaks.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman practices taking cover under a desk during an earthquake. (File photo courtesy Great Shakeout Earthquake Drills)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[8516,3934,10720,7946,4102,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-11537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-earthquake-preparedness","tag-earthquakes","tag-great-american-shakeout","tag-great-shakeout","tag-natural-disasters","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}