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Shake up your routine

Saanich Peninsula schools, businesses ready for Great BC ShakeOut
20823sidneygreatshakeoutSD63
Kathryn Farr

Kids will imagine shaking and quaking as they drop, cover and hold on tomorrow.

All students and staff in Peninsula schools, and across District 63, will participate in the Great BC ShakeOut at 10:20 a.m. on Oct. 20.

“We think it’s really important to make certain our staff and students are prepared in an emergency,” said Kathryn Farr, manager human resources/health and safety at Saanich School Board. “Even here at the board office we’re doing our little version of it.”

Teachers also access the information available at www.shakeoutbc.ca to make earthquake preparedness a part of the classroom discussion.

“We’re hoping at home, at the supper table, they’re talking about it,” Farr said. “So we’re also prepared at home.”

The schools in the district also participated earlier this year (last school year), during the inaugural Great British Columbia ShakeOut drill on Jan. 26 alongside more than 470,000 registered participants. That date was chosen because it was the 311th anniversary of the Great Cascadia earthquake that struck the Pacific Northwest. After consultation, the Great BC ShakeOut was realigned with drills in California, Guam, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and the Yukon for a mass earthquake drill at the same time on the same day.

So, Oct. 20 at 10:20 a.m. residents across BC will drop, cover and hold on until the ‘shaking’ stops in the largest earthquake drill in Canadian history.

Official rescue teams around the world advocate the internationally recognized drop, cover and hold on protocol to protect lives during earthquakes. If there isn’t a table or desk nearby, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner of the building. Do not try to run to another room just to get under a table.

Earthquakes occur without any warning and may be so violent that you cannot run or crawl; you will most likely be knocked to the ground wherever you happen to be.

For more resources about how to be earthquake ready, or register for the ShakeOut visit www.shakeoutbc.ca.