Mock Triage Drill at Los Angeles Area School Kicks Off the Great Southern California Shake Out and Golden Guardian Exercise

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Millions of Southern California residents, business owners, community leaders, and first responders participated in the Great Southern California ShakeOut, the largest earthquake drill is U.S. History, on November 13, 2008. The scenario was based on a 7.8 magnitude earthquake designed by Dr. Lucy Jones and 300 other scientists and engineers who made up the Earthquake Country Alliance, a quake that would be approximately 5,000 times stronger than the 5.4 magnitude Chino Hills tremor that hit California on July 29th. Because the San Andreas Fault, one of California's most notorious fault lines, has not had a major magnitude quake in the last 300 years, seismologists say that this type of disaster is inevitable.

The ShakeOut scenario predicts that an earthquake of this size would cause at least 2,000 deaths, 50,000 injuries, and $200 billion in damages, along with long-lasting, severe disruption. The drill and the preparations that went into it were designed to make people aware of what would happen in the event that such a disaster were to occur so that they are ready for it and can recover from it as a society. According to Dr. Jones, "If enough of us are prepared…we will be able to get things up and running again."

Communities throughout Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Imperial, Riverside and San Diego Counties held various activities as part of the drill. At the center of everything was the "Drop, Cover and Hold On" exercise that occurred at 10 a.m. One of the larger community activities in the Southland was held at Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills. This school was badly damaged in a 1971 earthquake and was completely destroyed by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Situated across the street from Providence Holy Cross Hospital, this campus served as the host site for both a ShakeOut drill and a Golden Guardian drill. Golden Guardian is the annual state-wide training exercise that helps state, local, federal and volunteer first responders to coordinate their efforts in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack, and this year's Golden Guardian coincides with the ShakeOut simulation.

After the "Drop, Cover and Hold On" exercise was complete, 300 students that had been made up to represent patients that were moderately, seriously and fatally wounded were evacuated from the building to the football field where a massive triage drill with hundreds of first responders was performed. Los Angeles Fire Department and EMS personnel were given 60 seconds to evaluate each patient before they were sent to Holy Cross Hospital or other facilities. To add to the severity of the situation, firefighters were told that no water was available to fight the accompanying fires, as all of the pipes in the area were ruptured, and so they practiced drafting it from ponds, swimming pools and other standing water sources.

After the triage drill, a press conference was held to talk about the success and importance of the day's activities. Present were Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) California, L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Henry Renteria, California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joseph Farrow, and Adjutant General of the California National Guard Major General William H. Wade. Governor Schwarzenegger commended the various agencies that participated in the drill, and thanked the federal government for providing funding to make it possible, saying, "The locals, the state and the federal government came together very quickly, unlike what we have seen at (Hurricane) Katrina, when it was going the other way."

The Shake Out drill continues with the Get Ready Rally on Friday, November 14th at the Nokia Plaza L.A. Live, and the Aftershock program is available online for three weeks, giving people the opportunity to virtually simulate the after effects of this type of natural disaster. The Golden Guardian exercise will continue through November 18th, with fire departments, volunteer groups and government agencies practicing various techniques throughout the state.

To watch FDNNtv.com's continuing coverage the ShakeOut and Golden Guardian click here.