Woodridge Residents Invited to 'The Great ShakeOut' Earthquake Drill

Submitted by the Village of Woodridge.

At 10:15 a.m. Oct. 15, the Woodridge Police Department will join millions of people across the U.S. and in several countries around the globe to take part in the annual Great ShakeOut drill.

The drill focuses on the “Drop, Cover and Hold On” protective actions people should take when an earthquake begins: “Drop” down to the floor, take “Cover” under a sturdy desk, table or other furniture, and “Hold On” to the furniture item and be prepared to move with it until the shaking stops.

Schools, businesses, government agencies, families and others can register to participate in the drill at www.shakeout.org/centralus. Registered participants will receive additional information about the drill and earthquake preparedness. While the international drill will take place on October 15, individual drills can be conducted anytime within two weeks of that date.

According to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Illinois is at risk from two major seismic zones, the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone and the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). The Wabash Valley Zone is located between southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana. The NMSZ is located in the Central Mississippi Valley and includes portions of the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee. During any 50-year time span, there is a 25% to 40% chance of a magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquake in this seismic zone. Since 1974, the year network monitoring of seismic activity began, more than 3000 earthquakes have been recorded in the NMSZ. Fortunately, none of these earthquakes exceeded a magnitude of 5.0, and most occurred without our noticing. The largest earthquake in recent years occurred on the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone. This earthquake registered a magnitude of 5.4 and occurred in Mt. Carmel, Illinois on April 18th, 2008.

Illinois has participated in ShakeOut drills for the past five years. In October 2014, nearly 578,000 Illinoisans took part in the nationwide earthquake drill. To date, more than 534,000 people in Illinois are registered for the October ShakeOut event.

Additional information about the earthquake risk in Illinois and steps to take before, during and after an earthquake is available at www.Ready.Illinois.gov.