Pupils part of national quake preparedness drill

• Published date: 03 November 2021
• Publication title: Courier, The

Waimataitai Primary School was one of the 36 participating schools in the region.

Pupils promptly crawled under the desks and sustained a covered position, waiting for five minutes before evacuating to the school field.

This was a drill to practise for an earthquake.

The school had held a demonstration showing the children what to do in the days before the event.

In South Canterbury, 36 schools and 19 businesses participated in the ShakeOut, a government initiative.

That was made up of three businesses and nine schools in Mackenzie, 15 businesses and 20 schools in Timaru, and one business and seven schools in Waimate.

A National Emergency Management Agency spokesman said it was important to practise for an earthquake anywhere in New Zealand.

‘‘Emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere.

‘‘All of New Zealand is at risk of earthquakes and all of our coastline is at risk of tsunami.

‘‘We can’t predict when one will happen, but we can protect ourselves and our whanau.’’

More than 650,000 people around the country participated in the ShakeOut.

The drill was an opportunity to practise what to do in an earthquake and tsunami, to drop...