Remember those duck and cover drills in elementary school? Admit it: you used to live for those moments when you could stop copying down Social Studies terms, or showing your work on those pesky long division problems, or whatever else those teachers with mediocre training would get you to do while you’re stuck indoors during the best hours of the day.
The fire drill bell goes off at an ear-shatteringly loud decibel, and students all over the school giggle to each other and eagerly drop their pencils to huddle underneath their desks. Yup, you know the drill. It occurred to me that most Californian students would probably wonder to themselves what it would really be like to live with the constant and very real threat of an earthquake. I mean, we have the San Andreas fault and all, but since the big San Francisco quake in 1906, there hasn't been anything close to what's been going on in the Southern hemisphere as we speak.
As the entire world stands in the wake of two devastating quakes, there really isn’t much laughter to be had. The ‘earthquake lady’, as Dr. Kate Hutton has been dubbed by the masses, has received more and more face time since the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile have caused massive panic in all hemispheres. Even as neighboring countries rush to provide aid and relief, they also have become more concerned with how to be prepared for potential earthquakes in the future.
Rehearsal that does not precede a real show is no rehearsal at all. For without the looming reality of the final performance, what real motivation can a rehearsal sustain in its actors? But if the recent two quakes have shown us anything, it’s that all those drills might not have been a complete waste of time, as many elementary school procedures often are. Check out these tips on how to be prepared in case of an earthquake from an exclusive interview with the Earthquake Lady herself and how to support the victims of the recent quakes.
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