USU Promotes Earthquake Awareness in 'Great Shake Out'

Utah State University is taking part in the Great Utah Shake Out on Thursday, April 20, to help raise awareness on how to prepare for and react in case of an earthquake.

This exercise will be employee-focused; professors and students are not expected to conduct drills during classes.

The university has employees in most departments who are designated as emergency management coordinators. These employees work with USU’s Department of Public Safety to create emergency response plans for their areas and educate colleagues about those plans.

“We are encouraging these emergency management coordinators to participate in the Shake Out exercise to help their departments be more prepared in case of an earthquake,” said USU Emergency Management Coordinator Scott Davis.

“People do not necessarily ‘rise to the occasion’ when disaster happens,” Davis said. “More often, they fall back to their level of training. This is a great opportunity to practice evacuation and response.”

The official Shake Out exercise will take place at 10:15 a.m. on April 20. At that time, all participating departments are asked to:

Conduct a “Drop, Cover and Hold On” drill for a few minutes in their location.
Evacuate their building, meet at the department’s primary assembly point (weather permitting) and do an accounting of all those present.

Anyone who has questions about participating can contact Davis at s.davis@usu.edu or 435-797-0846.

For more information about USU emergency preparedness, visit usu.edu/dps/emergency, where you can find an earthquake checklist and handbook along with templates for creating a family disaster plan. More information about the Utah Great Shake Out can be found at shakeout.org/utah.