Tomorrow (Oct. 20) at 10:20 a.m., millions of people worldwide will stop what they’re doing to drop, cover and hold on during the annual Great ShakeOut earthquake drill.
While the exercise takes place around the globe, regional campaigns have been established to better assist local residents. According to the Great British Columbia ShakeOut, more than 770,000 B.C. residents signed up to participate in the 2015 drill, making it the largest in Canadian history.
By Monday morning, more than 730,000 people provincewide and 120,000 in the Capital Region had signed up to participate in this year’s event.
One of those groups is the City of Colwood. Not only will staffers participate in the earthquake drill, the City has taken things a step further and will run Emergency Operations Centre exercises at the same time.
“There will be two separate sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, in an effort to ensure as many City staff as possible are able to attend,” said Sandra Russell, Colwood communications manager. “The exercise will begin with an empty room and require participants to set the EOC up from scratch, as may be the case in an actual emergency.”
The City will also likely run an additional earthquake drill in the afternoon for participants in the second EOC group.
The purpose of the Great ShakeOut is to not only get British Columbians prepared for a major earthquake, but to make sure they practise how to protect themselves in the event it happens.
West Shore families or businesses can join by registering for the 2016 Great British Columbia ShakeOut at shakeoutbc.ca/register.
katie@goldstreamgazette.com