Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed legislation into law requiring school safety drills across the state, including mandatory earthquake and evacuation drills for schools that are mapped in tsunami hazard zones.
“Critical infrastructure is more than just buildings, it’s our kids,” said Washington Emergency Management Division Director Robert Ezelle. “Funding education is a priority, but so is preparing our kids for disasters. That’s what this legislation does.”
Ezelle says it’s important to practice safety drills so that when youth grow up, it’s ingrained in them as adults.
Substitute House Bill 1279 requires regular safety-related drills when school is in session, including drills that focus on using school mapping information system, lockdowns, shelter-in-place and fire evacuation in accordance with the state fire code and one other safety-related drill to be determined by the school.
Maximilian Dixon, the earthquake program manager for Washington Emergency Management Division, says he’s hoping that the “other safety” drill that schools choose to conduct is an earthquake drill.
“Earthquakes are a threat that every corner of the state faces – from Spokane to the Long Beach Peninsula,” Dixon said. “Children across the state benefit from learning how to drop, cover and hold on.”
Dixon encourages schools to register for the Great Washington ShakeOut, conducted the third Thursday each year. This year, the drill is slated for 10:19 a.m. on Oct. 19. In 2016, 731,547 children participated in ShakeOut, mainly in schools, including the North Beach School District. In 2015, that number was 662,466. Dixon said the hope is the legislation will lead to even more participation in ShakeOut, which topped 1.1 million people in the state of Washington for the first time last year.
Among the long list of recommendations issued from the Resilient Washington Report in 2012 was that legislation be enacted requiring school districts to conduct at least one earthquake safety drill per school year. In addition, the report recommends that schools in mapped tsunami hazard zones should conduct a pedestrian evacuation drill annually with a specific recommendation to use the existing Great Washington ShakeOut Earthquake Drill registration to track metrics related to progress and participation.
“Luckily, all school districts in Grays Harbor County make the safety of their students, staff and faculty a primary concern and participate in numerous disaster exercises each school year,” said Charles Wallace, deputy director of the Grays Harbor County Department of Emergency Management.
During this year’s Great Shakeout exercise (on Oct. 19, 2017 at 10:19 a.m.), all Grays Harbor County school districts and their schools will participate in an earthquake drill. Those schools in tsunami inundation zones will actually evacuate to their assembly areas, away from the possible impact of tsunami waves, water velocity and devastation.
Grays Harbor Emergency Management “commends every school superintendent, principal, school faculty, staff and student, and for the local jurisdictions and response agencies which support them, for realizing the risk and hazards from all potential emergency and disaster situations by practicing fire drills, building lock down, shelter in place, earthquake and tsunami exercises,” Wallace said in a news release.
“We must never, ever become satisfied with the level of preparedness we have reached. As we continue to progress in all areas of emergency and disaster preparedness, we will arrive at barriers,” Wallace said in a statement.
“We may be delayed in our actions toward necessary change, yet we will continue the advancement of information, training and safety of all citizens and visitors to Grays Harbor County, our communities, businesses, schools and critical infrastructure,” Wallace said.
