Los Medanos College participated in the Great ShakeOut drill hosted nationally on Oct. 19 and during the drill, one of the alerts that was scheduled to be announced ran into an issue that caused it to be late. According to President Pamela Ralston, they are already closing in on a solution.
The drill, coincidentally coming a day after Contra Costa County felt a 4.6 magnitude earthquake, went successfully as several classes and faculty offices practiced earthquake safety precautions including: drop, cover and hold on. While the campuses participation in the event was not affected in any major way, the malfunctions were felt as some areas of the school did not receive the announcement until after the scheduled drill start time.
“Our only problem was this I.T. software update that made it so our communication didn’t hit all of our channels, but it will next time,” said Ralston.
The real quake was felt on campus and Ralston and others thought the sudden quake was ironic.
“We thought it was kind of fun that we had a real earthquake. Only fun because no one got hurt,” said Ralston. “But it was a good wake up call for all of us that we’re not just practicing. We have to be ready for the real one.”
Shortly after the real earthquake was felt on campus, Police services conducted a sweep of the grounds and buildings to take inventory of any damage caused. Alongside a sweep from the Buildings and Grounds department, Police Lieutenant Ryan Huddleston confirmed the search had found nothing.
“We did a preliminary walkthrough of the campus. You know, to make sure there was no broken glass or anything that had fallen that we could see,” said Huddleston. “We found nothing.”
Without any damage detected to the grounds that day, the drill was safe to partake in the following day and LMC as a whole took part in it. But since evacuation drills weren’t scheduled for the day, Ralston wants to make sure the community is ready.
With the real quake passing and new systems put in place to avoid any future malfunctions, a future evacuation drill is scheduled for some time in Spring of 2024. Yet, according to Ralston, this is still very much being planned and has no official date.
“We were aiming for around February, but we are still trying to plan it,” said Ralston.
As the semester continues to progress, LMC looks towards the future and plans future drills to ensure the safety of its community.
