Millions Mobilize for SoCal Earthquake Drill

An estimated 5 million volunteers and emergency personnel participated in a huge earthquake drill in Southern California today, the Los Angeles Times reports. The “ShakeOut,” as it is known, was designed to raise awareness of the continued need for earthquake preparedness. California will almost certainly get hit with a quake of 6.7 magnitude or higher in the next 30 years, the Orange Country Register adds.

The organizers enlisted volunteers to make the simulation appear as real as possible, and people ducked and found shelter as emergency responders arrived. They hope the verisimilitude will encourage people to prepare for the quake everyone knows is coming, sooner or later. “If it doesn't really change any behavior, then we haven't achieved what we wanted,” one geologist said. (More Southern California stories.)