Great Puerto Rico ShakeOut (Photo: WFO San Juan)
(October 22, 2012) - More than 750,000 people registered and participated in the first Great Puerto Rico ShakeOut, Oct. 18. The island-wide earthquake drill was designed to educate the public to prepare and protect themselves in the event of a major earthquake.
In addition to individuals and families; participants included schools; youth organizations; colleges and universities; federal, state and local government agencies; hotels; businesses; hospitals; the media and a host of other organizations.
The exercise was sponsored by the Puerto Rico Seismic Network and supported by the National Weather Service forecast office in San Juan which activated the Emergency Alert System with a live test message.
The actual exercise followed a massive media education campaign launched by the network and the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency on October 2.
"Earthquakes can occur without any warning," noted San Juan Warning Coordination Meteorologist Ernesto Morales. "When it begins, there is no way to know how strong it will be, so your best immediate response is to just drop, cover and hold on."
While this is the first ShakeOut for Puerto Rico, the program began nearly five years ago when scientists and emergency managers sponsored a drill based on a fictional 7.8 magnitude earthquake on the San Andreas fault in southern California.
Millions participated, making it the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history. Since then, the program has continued to grow with additional test exercises at home and abroad.
This year, more than 18 million people participated in earthquake ShakeOut drills. In the United States, they were held in California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Idaho. In addition to Puerto Rico, other first-time participants included Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Maryland, Washington, Alaska and Arizona.
Earthquake drills were also conducted in Guam, British Columbia, New Zealand and Japan. Additional drills are under consideration in American Samoa, Hawaii, Mexico, Turkey and elsewhere.
Great Puerto Rico ShakeOut (Photo: WFO San Juan)
