Great SouthEast ShakeOut is October 17

The University of Mary Washington will conduct quarterly testing of the Area Warning System on Thursday, Oct. 17, at 10:17 a.m. on the Fredericksburg, Stafford and Dahlgren campuses.

The test is in conjunction with in the second annual Great SouthEast ShakeOut, a multi-state simultaneous earthquake drill.

In August 2011, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the commonwealth, centered in the town of Mineral in Louisa County.  The historic quake was felt strongly in most of Virginia and throughout much of the east coast of the U.S. 

The quake and its hundreds of aftershocks damaged more than 1,400 homes and businesses in Virginia.  In the event of an earthquake,  practice these easy-to-remember steps during the ShakeOut:

• DROP to the ground -- before the earthquake drops you.
• Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and
• HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops.