At 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Washington residents will join the international Great ShakeOut earthquake-preparedness drill. Participants will practice a simple routine: at the first sign of shaking, drop to your hands and knees, take cover under a table or beside an interior wall away from windows, cover your head and neck with one arm, and hold on until the shaking stops. The drill can also be registered for another day, and additional materials are available at Shakeout.org.
Organizers also recommend signing up for the U.S. Geological Survey’s ShakeAlert early-warning system. A warning may arrive several seconds before strong shaking begins through the MyShake app or government emergency alerts on a phone. The drill will also provide an opportunity to practice tsunami evacuation routes, with sirens tested across the state. This preparation is especially important for Washington, which lies above the Cascadia Subduction Zone: experts estimate there is a 10–15% chance of a magnitude 9 earthquake occurring in the next 50 years. Such an event could cause shaking lasting several minutes, a devastating tsunami, landslides, soil liquefaction, approximately 2,000 injuries, and damage to more than 130,000 buildings.
Based on: Great Shakeout is back in WA to teach earthquake preparedness