March participates in statewide earthquake exercise

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Megan Crusher
  • 452 AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  March recently participated in the Great California ShakeOut, a statewide earthquake exercise designed to help prepare Californians for a large-scale earthquake. 

There is a 99.7% chance that California will suffer a 6.7 magnitude earthquake or higher within the next 30 years. 

Public service announcements advise Californians to plan and prepare for an earthquake in hopes of preventing a disaster from becoming a catastrophe. 

March took part in the exercise to test readiness and help create awareness, said Colonel Mary Aldrian, 452 AMW vice commander. 

The exercise began at 10:15 a.m. with an earthquake that lasted three minutes. When the earthquake struck the first order of business was to drop, get cover under a desk and hold on. 

Once the shaking stopped March employees exited buildings to designated accountability sites. 

After evacuating the Wing Headquarters building, Brigadier General James L. Melin, 452 AMW commander, spoke with his staff about the importance of these rehearsals and encouraged everyone to have a plan in place for their families at home. 

He said everyone should have communication plans in place and practice drills at home so that everyone knows what to do in an actual earthquake. 

Once accountability was taken everyone got to work. Emergency units set up the triage center and began treating the inured. Law enforcement and the fire department began surveying the base to see how well facilities fared and to determine mission readiness. 

"Practicing in this type of environment allows everyone the opportunity to perform their specific duties, evaluate their specific plans, and see where we may need improvement," said Colonel Aldrian. 

"Overall, it was a very productive exercise, allowing our Emergency Operations Center to stand up and coordinate responses for different scenarios throughout the base." 

The base did a magnificent job performing their duties and maintaining their diligence, said Lt. Colonel Bruce E. Finley, 452 MSG deputy commander, who was the on-site
commander for the exercise. 

Over 6.8 million Californians participated in the Great Shake-Out making it the biggest earthquake drill in U.S. history. 

The participants included schools, businesses, government agencies, law enforcement and medical services. The goal is to have people prepared for a disaster at work, home and school. 

The first exercise occurred in 2008 with 5.5 million Californians participating. In early 2009 it was decided to conduct the exercise annually every third Thursday of October. For more information visit www.shakeout.org.