Cody Luk
Online Editor
University students, faculty and administrators participated in an earthquake drill at 10:15 a.m. Oct. 15 at the same time as millions of other Californians for the Great California ShakeOut.
It is the largest statewide drill, and Earthquake Country Alliance organized it.
According to Earthquake Country Alliance, California is at high risk for earthquakes, more than the other states. The Great California ShakeOut is an annual event to educate and to practice safety procedures in case of emergencies. This is especially important for non-California and international students without much knowledge or experience with earthquakes.
The Earthquake Country Alliance advises the appropriate action to reduce injuries and deaths during an earthquake is to “Drop, Cover, and Hold On.”
People should drop to the ground, take cover by getting under a sturdy table and hold on to the table until the earthquake is over. If a desk or table is not around, then a person should get to an interior wall of the room and be in a crawling position and cover the head and neck with his or her hands and arms.
About 140 building team evacuation members helped coordinate the drill. They wore yellow safety hats for people to easily identify them and ask them for information on emergency preparedness.
Steven Storbakken, a 1988 alumnus, a California ShakeOut Team founding member and Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center director of safety and emergency preparedness, also came to the University to talk about safety preparedness. He presented a disaster scenario and was available on campus to answer questions.
“Personally I love the event and I think it’s great for the University to be prepared,” said Justin Czerniak, project management specialist in the office of information technology. “I think it’ll be amazing if students can get prepared.”
When the earthquake drill ended, an emergency preparedness fair, After the ShakeOut, was set up at Sneaky Park. About 25 booths from organizations such as the Pomona Valley Hospital and La Verne Police Department presented information on emergency preparation.
After the ShakeOut and the Great California ShakeOut are presented by Campus Safety and the University safety committee, and they are two parts of a joint event. The main purpose besides practicing the earthquake drill was to reveal the University’s new mobile safety app, LiveSafe, and the new emergency procedures poster.
Jeff Boster, emergency and safety services manager, started planning the event the day after last year’s event, and he is happy it was successful.
“Every year, it gets bigger and bigger,” Boster said.
LiveSafe replaces LeoSafe, the previous ULV mobile safety app. Users can report tips, call emergency contacts and use geo-mapping to locate and escort students to their destinations.
The emergency procedures poster, created by the active shooter subcommittee of the safety committee, has information on procedures to take if there is a fire, active shooter, earthquake, bomb threat, medical emergency and hazardous waste. There is also information on evacuation and how to shelter in place. The poster will be in every building on campus.
“I believe it’s helpful, because it provides information for emergency procedures,” said Laura Avalos, lead Campus Safety officer.
ULV Alert is the University’s Emergency Notification System that notifies students, faculty and staff in case of an emergency. The system can be activated by calling ULV ALERT or 855-858-2537 and information will be sent to the user’s phone.
Campus Safety can be reached at 909-448-4950 or by dialing extension 4950 from any campus phone.
Cody Luk can be reached at cody.luk@laverne.edu.
