Residents urged to participate in Great California Shake Out on Oct. 20

SANTA BARBARA — Assemblymember Das Williams urges Californian’s along the central coast to participate in the Great California Shake Out 2011, a statewide earthquake preparedness drill at 10.20 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, his office reported in a media release.

“Once the ground starts shaking it’s too late to make an earthquake safety plan. That’s why we need to prepare, now,”  Williams said.

The 2011 Great California ShakeOut earthquake drill now has over 8.3 million participants, surpassing the 2010 record of 7.9 million.

“This is now officially the largest earthquake preparedness drill ever!” said Cal EMA Earthquake and Tsunami Program Deputy Kate Long. “That’s a lot of people empowering themselves to prepare now so they can survive and recover when an earthquake strikes.”

For more information about the earthquake drill visit www.shakeout.org or to access a plethora of resources for the media, including a one minute “drill broadcast” to run on Thursday, visit www.shakeout.org./media