Pasadena Residents, Schools, Businesses, Government Offices Take Part in Quake Drill

Leading by example — Pasadena “movers and shakers” including Mayor Victor Gordo, Deputy Mayor Vannia De La Cuba, City Manager Miguel Márquez, City Attorney Michele Bagneris and City Clerk Mark Jomsky along with City department staff — participated in the ShakeOut earthquake drill Thursday.

At Pasadena Unified school campuses, thousands of students “dropped, covered and held on” before being evacuated outside to school fields under a sunny sky.

Pasadena City College students at the college’s four different campuses conducted a complete evacuation as part of the drill, with students heading to the nearest designated evacuation Zone.

The Pasadena drills mirrored emergency preparations being taken by millions of people in government offices, businesses and schools throughout Los Angeles County who stopped everything for a minute Thursday to “drop, cover and hold on” during a statewide earthquake preparedness drill, now in its 15th year.

The Great California ShakeOut of 2023 officially occurred at 10:19 a.m. Thursday.

“Everyone, everywhere, should know how to protect themselves during an earthquake — at work, at school, at home, or even while traveling,” according to a statement posted to ShakeOut.org. “Great ShakeOut earthquake drills are a once-a-year chance for everyone to practice `drop, cover, and hold on’ and learn other earthquake safety tips.”

The annual drills provide opportunities for millions to learn and practice earthquake safety.

The ShakeOut website indicated that 8.8 million Californians are slated to participate in the drill — down from 9.2 million last year.

The exercises began in 2008.

In Los Angeles County, the number of registered participants for the 2023 ShakeOut was 3,134,586. This is slightly lower than the previous year’s figure of 3.2 million.

According to ShakeOut.org, the objective is to emphasize precautions during a 7.8-magnitude or larger quake along the southernmost portion of the San Andreas fault.

Officials say that such a tectonic shift could produce waves of movement for hundreds of miles, over four minutes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, some 2,000 people would die, tens of thousands would be injured and more than $200 billion in damage would result. The cataclysm would have 50 times the intensity of the Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake.

Hundreds of aftershocks would ensue — a few of them nearly as big as the original quake, according to the USGS.

The drill in 2019 came just over three months after the early July quakes that struck Ridgecrest. The 6.4- and 7.1-magnitude shakers caused significant damage to roads and structures in the hamlet, which lies just south of the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station.

Californians should be prepared to be self-sufficient for 72 hours following a major disaster. That includes having a first-aid kit, medications, food and enough water for each member of a household to drink one gallon per day, according to local and state officials.