ShakeOut Past, Present, and Future...

2011 is the first year of The Great British Columbia ShakeOut, a drill designed to educate the public about emergency management during a large earthquake. It will be the largest earthquake drill to ever take place in Canada.

The concept of ShakeOut originated in California in 2008 with The Great Southern California ShakeOut. With over 5.4 million participants, this drill was considered a great success. Since its inception, the ShakeOut has expanded to include the entire state of California. In 2009, over 6.9 million Californians participated. In 2010, Nevada will be joining California with a drill on the same day (October 21).

The ShakeOut drill is also spreading to other states and countries. In 2009, New Zealand's Great West Coast ShakeOut was the first test of the concept in another area. The British Columbia ShakeOut is the next non-California drill, and Oregon will join the BC ShakeOut with a drill on January 26, 2011 as well. In April, 2011, the Central United States will launch its Great Central US ShakeOut. And in 2012 Utah and possibly New Zealand (nationwide) will launch ShakeOut drills.

This schedule/map shows how the ShakeOut is spreading in North America: