TUFS Conducts a School-wide Earthquake Drill

December 1, 2014

On Thursday, November 6th, a school-wide earthquake drill (ShakeOut drill/Security check drill) was carried out school wide. About two thousand people, including students, faculty members, and co-op workers took part in the drill simulating a magnitude six earthquake.
ShakeOut is a simulated disaster drill that began in the United States in 2008 and currently seeing wide implementation in Japan. The drill involves the general earthquake response of “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” under a desk for a minute.
An emergency alarm and an announcement recorded by The Great Japan ShakeOut, an organization which promotes ShakeOuts, started off the drill.
The announcement was made both in Japanese and English.
In the ensuing training, students send texts to the university from their portable terminals such as Smartphones.
Participants said that the drill provided a good chance to educate and remind people what to do when an earthquake occurs. TUFS plans to take advantage of the outcome of the drill to improve students’ and faculty members’ readiness for an earthquake.