By Alison Roeske, Yucaipa-Calimesa News Mirror Reporter
Mesa View Middle School joined other schools in California and across the country to participate in the Great ShakeOut in mid-October.
“We take safety very seriously at Mesa View. We review our safety plan with the staff at the beginning of the year and conduct monthly safety procedure reviews. Additionally, we review the procedures and expectations with our students and hold monthly drills with them,” Principal Cathy Pearson wrote in an email.
The school takes part in the nationwide earthquake safety event every year, and a local San Bernardino County preschool also practices the drill for the Great ShakeOut along with them.
For this year’s drill, the school roleplayed several scenarios: a gas leak was in a classroom, a teacher was blocked inside of his classroom, and two students were missing and needed to be found.
“The students are aware that we are taking part in the ‘Great ShakeOut Drill’; however, they are unaware that they are part of the scenario until the drill occurs,” Pearson said.
Assistant Principal Dr. Jeremy Perez started the drill procedures during the second period. It began with students and staff practicing “drop-cover-hold” under their desks, and then they evacuated their classrooms. It was raining in Calimesa on Oct. 17, so staff evacuated the students into the school gym. If it had not been raining, they would have gathered outside on the basketball courts, making sure to keep the fire lane open for emergency vehicles.
As the classes walked toward the gym, teachers carried emergency backpacks with supplies along with folders that can be flipped to show either red or green colors, with red indicating they need assistance with a problem and green indicating the opposite. These folders are very easy to spot in either the gym or on the basketball court even at a distance when the classes gather for the drill, Pearson said.
Substitute teachers also receive instructions from the school about what to do in case of emergency. Teachers leave directions in their plans, so the substitutes know about the backpacks and folders and procedures when the drill happens, she said.
The staff were assigned to different teams for the drill, including search and rescue, medical, security, and a student care team which oversees the students as they gather at the gym.
A command center was set up in front of the gym, and as the staff on the student care team stayed in the gym with the students, Pearson and Perez took in information and gave directives at the command center. Perez communicated more with staff while Pearson communicated more with the district via radio technology.
Most of the staff used one radio channel to communicate with others on site, and the principal, assistant principal and lead security had access to the radio channel that communicates with the district. As the search and rescue team looked for the “missing” students, they communicated with the command center on their radios as well. Staff also oversaw the school’s bunker, which has emergency medical supplies, buckets for toilets and large barrels of water. The supplies are estimated to be enough to meet the needs of 1,000 people. Food and generators are separately stored in other locations on the campus.
In addition, after they have been accounted for, some students are selected to be helpers or runners to assist staff during the drills.
When the search and rescue team gives the all-clear signal on the radios, the students go back to class. In a real earthquake, parents would check in with staff at the front gate and then go to the release gate to pick their children up. This part of the scenario was role-played by a parent driving up to the gym to pick up a student. In a real emergency, when the local fire department comes, they take over the command center and will make the decision about when it’s safe to go back to class, while the staff continues to work with the fire department.
Pearson said that after the drill, they have a follow-up “after action” meeting with their safety team and the school to review the drill’s positives and negatives, and an “after action” form provided by the district office for review.
The staff reviews their roles at the start of the school year and then continues to meet monthly, Pearson said.
“The drills help us know what’s working and what needs to be tweaked. It’s a great time to practice so everybody knows what to do in the case of a real emergency. Also, everyone knows we are prepared for an emergency and can adjust the plan procedures accordingly,” Pearson said.
According to literature from the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District, this is background scenario for the Great ShakeOut in their district:
“A 7.8 earthquake has occurred along the southern San Andreas fault, with the epicenter located near the intersection of Bryant St. and HWY 38, near the Mill Creek Ranger Station. Widespread shaking was felt for two minutes. Some foundations have been loosened with structures off their main supports. Widespread damage reports are starting to come in, with most utilities damaged and communication towers toppled.”
The handout also said that the San Bernardino segment of the San Andreas fault divides the Yucaipa Valley deposits from the bedrock of Yucaipa Ridge, and that some experts believe that the Yucaipa region is more prone to experiencing a rupture from an earthquake of 7.5 magnitude or greater, compared to other areas in Southern California. They quoted seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones as saying, “Yucaipa is on the most complicated part of the San Andreas Fault, and is at the northern gateway into a mess of faults.”
“Crafton Hills fault zone is located between the San Andreas fault zone and the San Jacinto fault zone. It’s made up of at least 10 faults, each 10 kilometers or less. The Crafton Hills fault zone exists because the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults are pulling the area apart,” the literature said