The Great Washington ShakeOut is coming to the Oak Harbor School District.
The ShakeOut, a worldwide earthquake drill that will include a tsunami warning siren in Oak Harbor, is set for 10:16 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 16. Every school in the district is participating.
While there may be a couple of schools that cannot participate at the exact date or time, they will be doing the earthquake drill within about a day, said Steve King, assistant superintendent of the school district.
The drill will begin with a playing of the Westminster chimes, followed by a short voice message and another playing of the chimes.
In most classrooms, the drill will consist of the “drop, cover and hold on” strategy for earthquake safety and should only take about five minutes, King said.
“The October 16 test of the tsunami warning siren gives Island County residents an opportunity to become familiar with the siren, as well as practice the ‘drop, cover and hold on’ technique, as if an actual earthquake had occurred,” said Eric Brooks, of the Island County Department of Emergency Management.
“It’s an earthquake drill that we usually perform throughout the year anyway, but it’s just doing it at the exact same date and time,” King said.
King said he believes this is the first time the school district has participated in this statewide drill.
“As a school district, keeping our kids safe is our priority, so we thought this was an opportunity to join in with the nation,” King said.
Washington is only one of the states doing a scheduled Shakeout drill. Others include Oregon, Idaho, California and British Columbia, Canada, along with 35 other states. This is one of the largest earthquake drills ever. Nearly 673,000 people have signed up to participate in Washington.
More than 23 million people worldwide are expected to participate in the ShakeOut earthquake drill.
“We do some sort of safety drill monthly, whether that be a fire evacuation drill or an intruder drill or an earthquake drill,” King said.
“We want to be as prepared as possible, and we don’t want to be caught off-guard.”
For more information about the Great Washington ShakeOut and earthquake preparedness, visit their website.
