Great ShakeOut Off-Key at the PAC
Santa Monica College (SMC) joined 639 other California colleges and universities for the 12th annual Great California ShakeOut last Thursday, Oct. 18. Since 2008, the ShakeOut has acted as an opportunity for Californians to practice safe procedures in preparation for a potential earthquake. In addition to educational centers, businesses, hotels, and many other organizations also participate in this yearly event.
All six of SMC’s campuses participated in this year’s Great ShakeOut, including the Performing Arts Center (PAC), which houses The Broad Stage.
As soon as the Great ShakeOut alarm rang, students evacuated the buildings and headed out toward the main quad and parking lot of the PAC campus. This went against the direction of the announcement, which informed students and faculty to “duck, cover, and hold” before moving outside. One of the first students to exit their classroom, SMC freshman Frances Tollman said she was not given any specific instructions to follow along with the loudspeaker’s direction, and her and her fellow classmates all “walked straight out.”
During the drill, music professor Sumy Takesue took on the responsibility of directing students away from the glass windows and into the parking lot. Some students appeared hesitant to follow instruction, to which Takesue responded, “There’s always a wise guy, remember this is not for fun.” According to Professor Takesue, all PAC professors received emails informing them of what to do during the drill. When asked if she felt like the drill was being taken seriously by students, she responded with, “No.” Professor Takesue was one of several professors who directed her students outside at the start of the drill.
“It says you’re supposed to duck and cover, but then you’re supposed to bring everybody out, so duck and cover doesn’t make any sense,” said Professor Takesue. “We don’t have any place to cover under anyway, there are no desks.”
Professor Takesue was not the only faculty member to bring up the lack of available space to cover oneself under if an earthquake were to hit PAC’s campus. Dr. David Goodman did not duck, nor did any of his students, because of lack of adequate space underneath any of their desks. When asked if he attempted to duck and cover, Dr. Goodman said that he directed his class to dance, jokingly adding, “Sorry, I’m not a rule follower” before elaborating on his serious thoughts about the drill’s ineffectiveness.
“I don’t want to say anything is not useful, but we know that we can’t get underneath the desks,” said Goodman about the Great ShakeOut’s “duck, cover, and hold” instructions. “You couldn’t begin to get under.”
While some students were told about the drill prior to Oct. 18, others were informed the day of, either by professors or by the announcement itself. For some students, like Windham Messinger, he could not remember if anyone had mentioned the drill in his previous classes. However, he did recall that no information was given to him as to where to go if he were to show up late that day. Therefore, when he arrived late to class on the day of The Great ShakeOut, he found himself inside of an evacuated building with no idea what was going on.
“I literally just showed up, walked in, and was very confused about why everyone was outside,” said Messinger. “There was just an open door, and I walked in, and I was like ‘everyone’s gone.’”
Despite personal thoughts and feelings from students and faculty, officiators of the event felt as though the PAC’s drill went smoothly. The campus’s acting building monitor for the day, who wished to remain anonymous, felt as though everyone was taking the drill “very seriously.” There were supposed to be two building monitors conducting the day’s event, but the other monitor was not in for the day. Therefore, the present building monitor took full responsibility of checking the evacuated building, confirming that nobody was left in any of the rooms and that all students and faculty remained outside of the PAC.
“Having gone through the steps, although it's redundant and boring sometimes, I think that we do this so that the next time there’s a real time, they already know where they’re headed,” said the PAC building monitor. “Because if they have no idea what’s happening … they’re not going to know visually even if they can objectively understand whats happening.”
Just prior to the sounding of the final announcement that signified the end of the drill, a student was seen wandering through the halls of the PAC main building. When the building monitor notified her that the campus was still in evacuation mode, she responded with, “Oh, we are? We’re in evacuation?”