Submitted by Grays Harbor County Emergency Management
On Thursday, October 15 at 10:15 a.m., The Great Shakeout Earthquake Exercise will initiate. This will be the largest earthquake exercise ever conducted worldwide. Please be aware that many government offices, businesses and all Grays Harbor County schools will be evacuating during the exercise. Use extreme caution as you drive throughout the county.
All AHAB Sirens will activate with the actual, full 3 minute siren along with a voice message announcing the test and then again following the siren. The All Hazard Weather Radios will onlyactivate with the required weekly test at 10:15am and only in coastal communities such as Grays Harbor County and Pacific County. Some weather radios will not activate because they do not receive weekly test messages. If you are not sure whether your All Hazard Weather Radio is functioning properly, push the radio button. You should hear the 24 hour weather forecast message. If you do not hear a voice transmission, you may need to reconfigure the radio or move it to another area.
As part of the exercise, Grays Harbor County Emergency Management is asking all government buildings, schools, businesses and private citizens to:
- Practice “Drop, Cover and Hold On” procedures — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a7T9Uf-JB4&feature=player_embedded
- Then evacuate their building, school or home to a predetermined safe area and account for all staff, students and family.
- A process should be in place to account for any staff, student or family member not on location with you – text, phone call etc.
- Consider who to contact should you find anyone is not accounted for.
Since most families are NOT together for this event, please consider discussing your family disaster plans over the weekend so all family members are fully aware what is expected from each person.
The exercise should take no longer than 20 minutes to complete and is to provide awareness to all citizens, enabling them to best protect themselves, their staff, students and family members during an earthquake event.
Message to Coastal Communities
Remember that notification of whether a tsunami has been generated or not may take up to 10-15 minutes following the shaking of an earthquake.Your initial actions should be to “Drop, Cover and Hold On” followed by moving to high ground without hesitation! Once on high ground, personnel accountability should take place.
During a true earthquake event, communication may be lost for some time. Texting may be a possible way to communicate. The AHAB sirens may NOT activate along the coast, even if a tsunami is approaching due to the earthquake moving the siren out of alignment with the satellite activation ability. The earthquake is your warning to move to higher ground.
