Some Los Angeles local Santa Monica College students have participated in earthquake drills since elementary school, and some international and out-of-state students have not. The one thing they have in common is being confused by the Great California ShakeOut Earthquake Drill on Oct. 15.
At 10:15 a.m. students received a text from Santa Monica College Emergency Alert notifying them that an earthquake drill had begun. They received a phone call five minutes later. Two more texts, three more calls and three emails followed after students had already returned to their classrooms.
Earthquakes are familiar to Los Angeles residents and international students alike, but the Great California Shakeout Earthquake Drill is the only earthquake preparation SMC conducts annually. Yet, as Chloe Seo, a student from Saipan, said, “This wasn’t really a drill at all.”
Despite the drill, local, out of state and international students did not have a consistent understanding of what to do during an earthquake. Four students who had been through earthquake drills throughout middle and high school said the drill would not have helped them without their prior experience. Two students without previous experience said they did not know whether they should evacuate the building or hide under their desks.
Leyla Arenas, a building monitor with the Center for Wellness and Wellbeing said, “During the drill, everyone will drop, cover and hold. After the earth stops moving, everyone will evacuate to their respective areas where they are safe.” As a building monitor, Arenas is the last person to check the Pearl Annex building and nearby trailers to ensure students are safe and the building is secure.
When asked what to do during an earthquake, Aiya Nahaka, a local student said, “I don’t know, hide under my desk. This feels pointless to me, we should already know what to do.” Three other local students shared the sentiment that students should already know what to do, but none of them could describe the steps to take when an earthquake strikes.
“I’m a teacher and I see how people learn, and it is through repetition,” Alex Schwartz, a professor of psychology said. “I think it would be better if there were a couple of sayings or truisms like stop, drop and roll.” Schwartz has taught at SMC for 16 years, and proposed a catchphrase that tells students not to run outside, but to stay inside California’s earthquake-safe buildings.
Schwartz said, “stay in, stay under, stay low.”
Meiqi Zhang, an international student from China said she was surprised there were no sirens like those used in earthquake drills in her home country. By the time students had returned to class, there had only been teacher instructions and text messages. The earthquake warning siren cut her sentence off, alerting the handful of lingering students remaining outside after the evacuation had concluded.