The Great California Shakeout is a statewide day for earthquake safety and preparation, with cities, businesses and schools running earthquake drills. CUSD took part in the annual day of earthquake safety with a full simulation at the District Office in San Juan Capistrano.
Organized by the Safety and Student Services Department, the entire District Office simulated what would happen in the event of an earthquake. All employees were instructed to vacate the building at 10 a.m. and gather in the south end of the parking lot, where the outdoor Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was established. The outdoor EOC is an exact replica of the one in the District Office building, and would be put into use in the event of an emergency that made the building unsafe. Employees gather by department and took a roll call to determine who had safely evacuated the building, reporting the roster back to the EOC.
The EOC has key positions designated for the assessment and assistance of an emergency, which are filled with leadership members associated with those areas. The Incident Commander and Deputy Incident Commander are appointed first, and they fill roles in the remaining areas- Administration, Logistics, Operations, Planning. Once the team was filled, select schools began to radio in information on the status of their sites. The communications team provided that information to the Administration Chief, who delegated assignments to the other departments for assistance. The EOC team provides a variety of assistance to sites- including transportation, search and rescue, medical staffing and supplies, and campus supervision.
While the EOC manages schools site needs, an additional, similar team is assembled to manage the needs of the Ed Center. This team reviews the department rosters, deploys search and rescue teams into the building to find anyone missing, and manages first aid care.
Several school sites also ran earthquake drills to prepare students and staff in the event of an emergency.
