Shake Out! Earthquake Drill - Lessons Learned

Did you practice your drop-cover-hold skills during the International Shake Out Earthquake Drill? My family did and as usual, we had fun and learned lessons.
In our practice, we follow the drill suggestions on the Oregon Shake Out website. On 10/20/22, at 10:20 am, we started the drill. We dropped to the floor, found the nearest place to cover ourselves (in our case, under our kitchen table), and then held on for a few minutes, as if waiting out a major shake. (You can practice this drill at any time.) While we waited, we looked around and imaged how an earthquake might create damage and hazards: what could drop off counters and shelves and off the walls. Making notes of these observations will help us better secure our house for a future earthquake.
After a few minutes (in a real earthquake, after the shaking stops), we practice our neighborhood ready drill, which includes going through the 9 steps to take after the disaster for an earthquake. I keep the list of the 9 steps in my under-bed-kit and also on the refrigerator to make it easy to find. 
Preparing with neighbors makes you more resilient and increases everyone's chances of survival. Once you have taken care of your family, secured your house, its time to make sure that your neighbors are ok and secure the neighborhood. They will do the same for you, assuming your have met with them ahead of time in a Neighborhood Ready! meeting. (Hint, hint!) After an earthquake, you assemble at a predetermined place, form teams to check to make sure everybody is OK, check everybody's gas meters, and shut the gas meters off, if there is evidence of a leak.
​Here's what we learned during our 2022 drill: 
Lessons learned during our home check: 

• We had fun getting on our gear, going through our checklist, and checking on neighbors (as a pair). Many people were not home, but of the few we made contact with, they were appreciative. :) 
• We discovered one of our under-bed kits was not easily accessible, and one had some items that were falling apart and needed replacement. I didn't realize my gloves were coming apart; I discovered that by putting them on. 

• We spend a lot of time in our family room, and we don't have a lot of emergency supplies in there. Our family room is a wall of windows, and I don't always keep shoes in there! Time to add a box of critical safety gear in the family room. 
• One of us had trouble getting under the table due to knee trouble. Some vulnerable seniors may have the same issue. If you are in this group, it's a good idea to practice alternative safety steps, like using a pillow to protect your head during the earthquake, especially if its hard to get on hands and knees to get under a table. 
• We had moved our fire extinguisher, and couldn't find it right away! Need to have a consistent place for the fire extinguisher. 
• My HAM radio got into a mode that I couldn't figure out right away. I had to troubleshoot the problem. I need more practice! 

Lessons learned during neighborhood checks: 

• Lots of people weren't home when we did our home checks. We remembered that we should be checking their gas meter, anyway. Whatever team goes out to check on the gas needs to carry an all-in-one tool. 
• We need to have a backup to our neighborhood safe meeting place. For the second year in a row, the person who hosts our neighborhood meeting place was out of town during Shake Out. That could happen in a real earthquake, so we need to have a better backup. 

What lessons did you learn? Share in the comments below. :) 

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Author

Karen Ronning-Hall, Disaster Preparedness Evangelist, living in beautiful Portland, Oregon, with hubby Bill, daughter Geneva, Bean dog, Thumper kitty, and Terry the turtle.