To promote the importance of earthquake preparedness, Cal Poly Pomona will participate in the Great California Shakeout, which includes a test of the university's Safety Alert System and a campuswide evacuation drill on Thursday, Oct. 19.

Drop/Lock, Cover and Hold On

At 10:19 a.m., the campus will participate in the statewide earthquake drill. Drop/lock, cover and hold on for 60 seconds.

Cal Poly Pomona's Safety Alert System will send out a mass reminder of the drill via email, phone and text message to all students, faculty and staff. In addition, a pop-up message will appear on CPP-owned computers.

Evacuation Drill

At 11:50 a.m., a second Safety Alert message will be sent via email, phone, text and computer pop-up to announce the start of a campuswide evacuation drill.

All building occupants will be asked to go to their building's designated evacuation site. Evacuation coordinators will assist in evacuating the buildings as they make their way to the exit.

After evacuating and upon release by the evacuation coordinator, you can resume your regular activities. The exercise is scheduled immediately before U-Hour, so that most students may not need to return to the classroom, unless directed by their instructor.

Note that the fire alarms will not be pulled during the evacuation process.

Safety Alert System

The Safety Alert System is Cal Poly Pomona's emergency messaging system that can send messages to phones, email addresses and university-owned computers and phones. It is only used for emergency communication and testing purposes.

To ensure you receive Safety Alerts, update your phone number in the MyCPP portal. Go to Settings, then click on Update Phone Numbers. Make sure to enter your cell phone number under the phone type "Mobile" to receive critical text messages in an emergency.

Preparing for an Emergency

• Be sure to update your personal contact information in the MyCPP portal.
• Visit the campus' Emergency Management webpage on the Great ShakeOut for more information about the earthquake drill, campuswide evacuation drill and what to do in the event of an earthquake.
• Put together a disaster kit with the essentials: gloves, goggles, dust masks, a radio, a flashlight, water and basic tools. Ready.gov has additional tips on preparing for an earthquake.
• Download the MyShake app to receive an early warning of an earthquake on your cell phone. In addition, the USGS website lists additional methods to receive early alerts.