7.8 Earthquake ‘exercise’ to hit Los Angeles County next Thursday

Los Angeles County get’s ready for “the big one.”

By Brian Hews

They say we are getting closer to predicting the actual time when earthquakes will actually take place.

Here in Los Angeles County on thing is for sure, sometime in the future a large shaker will strike and millions of people will be effected.

In continuing the on-going efforts in preparing the “big one,” Los Angeles County Operational Area (LACOA) and its partners including the 88 cities, 137 unincorporated area communities, 200-plus school and special districts will be holding a “disaster training exercise” on Thursday, March 21 from 9 to 3 p.m.

The Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office, Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is hosting a “functional exercise” at the Los Angeles County Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) that is located at 1275 N. Eastern Avenue from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In a press statement on Friday afternoon, it was explained that “this year’s functional exercise will feature the California Integrated Seismic Network’s Earthquake Early Warning Demonstration System and the participation of 53 City emergency operations centers, American Red Cross, Emergency Network Los Angeles, Southern California Edison and County departments (Chief Executive Office, Community & Senior Services, Coroner, Fire, Health, Human Resources, Internal Services, Mental Health, Public Health, Public Social Services, Public Works and Sheriff).”

“These departments and organizations will be communicating and coordinating various types of resource and commodity requests by utilizing the Operational Area Respo

English: Map of Los Angeles County, California – with adjacent Counties indicated. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

nse and Recovery System in response to a simulated magnitude 7.8 earthquake that impact the entire LACOA,” a media spokesperson said.

A functional exercise is a training event that is designed to test and evaluate selected emergency functions and the interaction of various levels of government, response organizations, volunteer groups, and industry in a simulated environment. This type of exercise usually involves key decision makers, the local emergency operations center and representatives from response and support organizations. Field response units are not normally activated and deployed during a functional exercise.

For more information on how to prepare for disasters, please go to OEM website at http://lacoa.org and Emergency Survival Program website at http://espfocus.org.