Shake Out, Keep Calm and Carry On

"At this time, we're being advised that the building is unsafe and we need to move outside for an evacuation."

That announcement from Principal Vincent Riener went out over the loudspeaker and into every classroom at  Thursday morning as students crouched huddled under their desks shortly after 10:20 a.m.

Though all 256 All Souls students at the time were protecting their heads from falling debris, they weren't in any immediate danger. In fact, they were participating in a statewide earthquake preparedness exercise along with 8.6 million other Californians.

Dubbed "The Great California ShakeOut," the simultaneous earthquake simulation at 10:20 a.m. was meant to foster earthquake preparedness. Schools, governmental organizations and even BART took part this year, according to the ShakeOut website.

Earthquake preparedness is not a problem at All Souls, where teachers and students do a drill each month and the school keeps a full stock of water and supplies. Even so, the school regularly runs through a full evacuation for the ShakeOut to make sure everyone knows the process.

When the sixth graders entered social study teacher Laura Lucchesi's class at 10:15, they knew there was going to be a drill, but they didn't know when. Excitement was high, and rumors were flying that a major earthquake had been predicted for the next day (in fact, a 3.9 magnitude quake did hit outside of Berkeley that afternoon).

A student wanted to know what would happen if the Egyptian pyramids the class was building out of sugar cubes were damaged in an earthquake.

"I think I can make an exception on your projects if there's an earthquake tomorrow," Lucchesi said skeptically.

Students were out of their seats on their way to gather those pyramids when the alarm went off. Talking and giggling, they got under their desks.

"I do not want to die," a boy said.

"Your heads should be covered by your hands," Lucchesi reminded the students.

After the principal ordered the evacuation over the loudspeaker, the students lined up and collected their ID badges. With the rest of the school, they filed, largely silently, out onto the large playground, where they lined up by grade level and then by last name.

Principal Riener commended the students for their participation and told them they should talk to their parents about emergency procedures.

"If the bridges go down, some of your parents may not be able to get here," Riener said. "Your parents will make every effort to come here, and the reason for that is because they love you."

Fourth-grader Vincent Joseph Pena said he felt prepared for an earthquake.

"We are prepared with supplies, water, food and all the things we need to survive," Pena said.