45° P/CLOUDY, Drop, cover and hold
Last Modified: Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 11:42 a.m.
School children throughout the state took cover under desks and tables, even as adults in government buildings did the same in a massive earthquake preparedness drill Thursday morning.
The announcement came over the loudspeaker at Santa Rosa's Strawberry Elementary school at about 10:25 a.m. from Principal Scott Humble, and the students in Carole Lane's fifth-grade class sprang into action.
The “drop, cover and hold” drill lasted 30 seconds and evoked memories of the drills their parents and grandparents used to do to prepare for nuclear disaster in the 1950s and 1960s.
In this case, the drill comes two days before the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, which quake lasted between 10-15 seconds and measured 7.1 magnitude.
The quake killed 63 people, injured 3,757
“The drill went exceedingly well,” Humble said. Students dropped and went under their desks as teachers aided them and then sprang to open a door before taking cover themselves.
Humble explained that in an earthquake shifting walls can jam doorways and trap students. So teachers make sure a door is open. After the shaking, students would be evacuated away from buildings and injury and damages would be assessed.
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