The West Virginia University Police Department is encouraging all community members to participate in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s first ever Great SouthEast ShakeOut on Thursday (Oct. 18).

The ShakeOut is a regional earthquake drill in which participants in the area and surrounding states will simultaneously practice the recommended “Drop, Cover and Hold on” action to take during an actual earthquake. The drill will be held for 90 seconds at 10:18 a.m.

Those who are interested in participating can go to http://shakeout.org/howtoparticipate to be counted in the ShakeOut drill, register, get email updates and more.

The regional earthquake drill follows the 2012 National Preparedness Month in September and the one-year anniversary of the 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Mineral, Va.

“We did field many questions following the earthquake last year, felt by the WVU community, on how to properly respond to an earthquake,” said Captain Danny Camden, manager of Emergency Planning and Response. “Although earthquakes are not high on our probability list, they are not off of the list either. We want the community to have some information on how to respond to an earthquake.”

WVU is the first university in the state to complete requirements to become StormReady certified through the National Weather Service.

For more information on ShakeOut, visit http://shakeout.org. For more information on WVUPD, call 304-293-COPS or visit http://police.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

mm/10/16/12

CONTACT: Danny Camden, Emergency Planning and Response
304-293-COPS, Danny.Camdenjr@mail.wvu.edu

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