Culver City Observer -

With 37 million people living and working in California, a major earthquake could cause unprecedented devastation. What we do now, before a big earthquake, will determine what our lives will be like afterwards. With earthquakes an inevitable part of California’s future, we must act quickly to ensure that disasters do not become catastrophes.

On October 15th at 10:15am you have the opportunity to “ShakeOut” with over 9 million Californians to show your disaster readiness. Participants are asked to go to http://www.ShakeOut.org (so they can be counted and receive communications) to pledge that your family, school or business pledges to practice “stop, drop and hold on” at the specified time. It is only a five-minute commitment for something that can save your life. It all begins with registering, which is free and open to everyone.

Culver City residents and businesses have a second opportunity to practice their disaster readiness on October 15th by participating in the Annual (now in its 11th year) Culver City City-Wide Disaster Drill at 7:00pm. In order to participate we ask that at 7:00pm you “stop, drop and hold on” and review and/or activate your family/business disaster plan. We further request that you utilize the City’s “OK” sign program and post your “OK” sign to let first responders know that you are “OK”.

For those of you who have never participated in our City-Wide Disaster Drill with the “OK” sign program, all you need to do is place an “OK” sign on your window or on your door in a location most visible from the public right-of-way to signal that your family or business are “OK”. In the event of a real disaster, if you were not “OK”, you would post nothing and contact 9-1-1 to let them know of injuries, etc.

If you would like more information on how to participate in the Great California ShakeOut, to participate in Culver City’s “ShakeOut” with the “OK” sign program (OK signs are also available for download), to download family disaster plans and disaster supply checklists, please visit our website at http://www.culvercity.org/emergencyprep. Additional information can also be found at http://www.ShakeOut.org.

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