STORY AND GRAPHIC BY HANNAH KAMPITAN, DIGITAL EDITOR
Cypress College will participate in the Great ShakeOut for the sixteenth year on Thursday, October 17 at 10:17 a.m.
The Great Shakeout is a yearly evacuation drill that educates participating institutions, organizations, school districts, or businesses on safety procedures during an earthquake. The first Great Shakeout began in 2008 in Southern California, and Cypress College has been participating since. This year, 10,762,735 individuals are registered to participate in drills.
In an email sent by Craig Lee, Director of Campus Safety at Cypress College, he said that a full evacuation exercise will take place on Cypress College’s campus.
Lee provided emergency preparedness tips, including the Campus Safety phone number to save into one’s personal contacts: (714)-487-7387
“For this exercise, there will not be fire alarms going off,” he said. “The notification will come electronically. This is an exercise to mimic an actual event, so it’s about timing and safety.”
To update your text message alert preferences in myGateway:
- Sign into myGateway.
- Go to the “Personal Information” channel under the “Student” tab.
- Click on the item, “Set Text Message Alert Preferences,” which will lead you to a screen to update or change cell phone information.
Leading up to the drill, Campus Safety will offer Building Coordinators and Floor Marshals multiple dates to choose from to receive specific training.
Regarding the day of the event, he provided instructors and faculty with a few notes to consider:
- The full process, from Assembly Point to Evacuation Point will take place. Campus Safety officers will be stationed in assembly points, ready to lead participants to evacuation zones.
- Strikers Chairs will not be deployed, and individuals with disabilities who are unable to make it out on their own will not be evacuated.
Class sessions will resume as normal following the drill.