Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills Taking Place Today

British Columbians are joining millions of people worldwide this morning to practice how to "Drop, Cover and Hold On" during Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills.

British Columbians are joining millions of people worldwide this morning to practice how to "Drop, Cover and Hold On" during Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills.

Area cities, towns and villages are all taking part in some form, encouraging residents to take just a couple of minutes to help protect yourself and your family in the event of a real earthquake.

Some simple suggestions include creating a simple family plan and discussing it so everyone in your family knows what to do when the earthquake happens, putting together an emergency kit with enough food, water and medication to last 72 hours. It's also good practice to have steps in place at work.

The Drop, Cover, Hold On drill is a simple two minute exercise designed to encourage people to be better prepared for earthquakes.

Some areas - including Campbell River - are encouraging more detailed drills.

Specifically for residents living and working downtown at 10:20 a.m., they are asked to "Drop, Cover and Hold On" for 5 minutes. After the time is up, or after the "shaking" stops, count to 60 and then begin evacuating to your closest evacuation exercise checkpoint on foot or bicycle. Cars are discouraged as it is unlikely regular vehicles could navigate the roads after an earthquake.

When you reach your exercise checkpoint, find out how long it took you to evacuate your area and then register to be entered to win one of several household emergency preparedness prizes, with a grand prize of a Household Wildfire Sprinkler Protection Kit.

There will be four checkpoints set up around downtown for today's event. There's no pre-registration required.

You can find detailed evacuation routes, and more information, at https://srd.ca/srd-encourages-everyone-to-register-and-participate-in-annual-earthquake-shakeout-event-on-thursday-october-20th/