The Great Southern California ShakeOut was a week of special events featuring the largest earthquake drill in United States history. On November 13, 2008, over 5 million Southern Californians pretended that the magnitude-7.8 ShakeOut scenario earthquake was occurring and practiced actions derived from results of the ShakeOut Scenario, to reduce the impact of a real, San Andreas Fault event. The communications campaign was based on four principles: 1) consistent messaging from multiple sources; 2) visual reinforcement: 3) encouragement of “milling”; and 4) focus on concrete actions. The goals of the ShakeOut established in Spring 2008 were: 1) to register 5 million people to participate in the drill; 2) to change the culture of earthquake preparedness in Southern California; and 3) to reduce earthquake losses in Southern California. Over 90% of the registrants surveyed the next year reported improvement in earthquake preparedness at their organization as a result of the ShakeOut.
Citation Information
Publication Year | 2011 |
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Title | Preparing for a "Big One": The great southern California shakeout |
DOI | 10.1193/1.3586819 |
Authors | Lucile M. Jones, M. Benthien |
Publication Type | Article |
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Series Title | Earthquake Spectra |
Index ID | 70034871 |
Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |