STORY BY JASON GREEN, STAFF WRITER
Cypress College will participate in The Great Shake Out for its fifteenth year on Thursday, Oct. 19.
The Great Shake Out started in Southern California in 2008, and is intended to be a preparedness drill to teach people how to protect themselves during an earthquake. Since then, local, federal and state governments, school districts, colleges, groups, organizations, programs, individuals and businesses have participated in the event.
Cypress College will participate in the Great Shakeout along with 17,849,005 participants in the United States this year.
In an email sent by Marcie Kagawa, Communications Specialist at Cypress College said the Great Shakeout Out will commence on Thursday at 10:19 a.m.
“During this drill, the college will conduct an evacuation to simulate a campuswide response to an actual earthquake event,” Kagawa said.
Kagawa also provided emergency preparedness tips, including Campus Safety’s phone number: (714)-484-7387.
Another tip given was to “Update your text message alert preferences in myGateway to receive emergency text notifications”.
To update your text message alert preferences in myGateway:
Log in to myGateway.
Click on “Personal Information” in the Student tab.
Click on “Set Text Message Alert Preferences.”
Enter your cell phone number.
On the day of the drill, Cypress College students and people affiliated with the college will receive a notification about the event via speakers, texts and phone calls, then there will be an evacuation of classes in each of the buildings, according to office administrator Sabrina Fayad of Campus Safety
Each floor marshall will grab emergency bags and to-go bags and bring them to designated areas.
After the drill, classes will resume as normal.
