Earthquake Gives Drills at L.A. Schools Increased Urgency : Preparedness: Many students take annual exercise more seriously. Faculty practices rescues, first aid.

With a real live quake giving the exercises renewed urgency, schools throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District staged earthquake drills Thursday that simulated everything from evacuations to mock rescues.

Dubbed “Shake ‘92,” the drills have been an annual exercise in the district’s 854 schools and centers during April. They were particularly timely after Wednesday night’s 6.1 temblor, which shook up an area stretching from Las Vegas to San Diego.

“Because of last night, I noticed a greater seriousness today at our school than ever before,” Richard Warnick, principal of Glassell Park Elementary School, said of his students. “Once we were outside, I asked how many (children) had felt the quake last night and I said in Spanish, this is why we practice.”

Nelson Landaverde, a fifth-grader at Glassell Park, said he thought the simulation on campus could not have been staged at a better time.

“I think it was important because there might have been a real one tomorrow or the next day,” said the 10-year-old, who was asleep when Wednesday’s quake hit.

At various times Thursday, every school in the district was to pretend that an 8.0 quake had struck Southern California and enact emergency contingency plans, said Debra Hetrick, coordinator of district emergency services.

Hetrick said the exercises usually include students going under their desks, filing out to assembly areas where roll call is taken, and the faculty splitting into teams with duties ranging from rescuing trapped children to administering first aid.

“I think (Wednesday’s) quake made a lot of the district personnel really aware of the importance of the drill,” Hetrick said, noting that the district has staged the mock exercises for the last seven years. “The timing was good because it increased the awareness level.”

No damage from the quake was reported in district schools.

Although some schools used Wednesday’s temblor as a reminder of why drills are necessary, at least one principal said he canceled parts of the exercise to avoid upsetting children who may have been disturbed by the real thing.

“We had the drill. . . .so adult personnel could go through their functions (and) . . . know what to do,” said William Snow, principal of Beckford Avenue School in Northridge. But “we left out the so-called gory details for the sake of the children.”

That meant no children faked injuries so that emergency personnel could practice rescuing and treating them, Snow said. And instead of dropping under their desks, students filed out to evacuation areas in the schoolyard.