Citrus College participated in a statewide earthquake drill on Oct. 18.
The Great California ShakeOut started at 10:18 a.m. Campus Safety Supervisor Ben Macias said in an email the drill was completed in 18 minutes—a record time for the college.
The most recent earthquake to strike campus was a magnitude 4.4 on Aug. 29.
ESL instructor Marissa Danielsen said many of her students do not know what to do during an earthquake. She said it is important for students to go through the drills.
“We take these drills for granted as Californians,” Danielsen said. “Honestly, we’re just like, ‘OK, whatever, not a big deal.’ Sometimes we even take earthquakes (for granted) if they’re below a 4.0. We’re just kind of like ‘It’s a foot massage.'”
Danielsen said she thought a new alert system would be used including computer messaging.
Macias listed the various emergency alert systems the college has.
“During the drill, various emergency notification systems were tested including Citrus Alert via text messages and phone calls, bulk emails via the campus network, Alertus via beacons loudspeakers and network computers, Shortel campus phone broadcasts, radio communications and the announcement feature on the Citrus College Portal,” Macias said in an email.
Undeclared major Omar Ortiz said he has been in an earthquake before and said the drills were helpful.
“I think it is especially with young kids.” Ortiz said. “They don’t know what to do, they freak out a lot.”
