SANTA ANA : School Not Rattled by Drill Timing

It was a dress rehearsal that couldn’t have been more timely. On Wednesday, the same morning that a series of earthquakes rocked Northern California, the staff and students of Jackson Elementary School staged a full-scale earthquake drill.

The event also inadvertently fell on the 84th anniversary of the 1906 Great Earthquake, which devastated San Francisco. And it came the day after sizable aftershocks from a Feb. 28 earthquake were felt in the Southland.

“When we planned the drill, we had no idea that the date we selected fell on the anniversary of the San Francisco quake,” said Bill Boettcher, risk manager for the Santa Ana Unified School District. “But that coincidence and the earthquakes of today showed us how vulnerable we really are and how important proper training is.”

The earthquake drill involved the school’s 1,200 students, 70 teachers and staff members and dozens of parents. The scenario had a major 7.4 earthquake occurring at the Newport-Inglewood Fault, causing widespread damage to the area.

At the school, emergency stations went into operation, the Santa Ana Fire Department was notified and well-planned emergency preparedness plans were called into action. Children feigning injuries were brought to first-aid stations and attended by volunteers, while teachers marched their classes outside for a head count.

First-grade teacher Marie Wood brought her students to the playground after conducting a “drop” drill in her classroom.

“No one panicked, and the kids followed directions very well,” Wood said. “We practiced a lot, and I had a lot of confidence in the children.”

But the first-aid station was not just filled with fakers. In all the excitement, fifth-grader Tim Nelson suffered a lump on the head when he hit it on the corner of his desk while trying to crawl underneath.

“I thought we were in a real earthquake at first,” said Tim, as he held an ice pack to his head. “They told us it (the drill) was going to happen, but I didn’t think it was time yet.”

For several of the parents who agreed to participate, the drill proved to be unsettling.

“After standing there for 15 minutes and not seeing my kids, I was feeling panicky and lightheaded and was getting really nervous,” said Effie Coulter, the mother of three Jackson students.