2011 was the first year of The Great British Columbia ShakeOut, a drill designed to educate the public about how to protect themselves during a large earthquake, and how to get prepared. It was the largest earthquake drill to ever take place in Canada, with more than 470,000 participants participating on January 26th, the anniversary of the last magnitude 9 earthquake in British Columbia (in 1700) which shook the entire province as well as Washington, Oregon, and California.