Great Utah ShakeOut prepares Utahns to survive 'The Big One'

Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune

State employees, who are also members of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), talk about the day's drill at the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016. The CERT members, who all work on Capitol Hill discussed how the drill went after employees reentered the buildings.

Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune

State employees enter the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016.

Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune

State employees leave the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016.

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Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune State employees, who are also members of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), talk about the day's drill at the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016. The CERT members, who all work on Capitol Hill discussed how the drill went after employees reentered the buildings. Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune State employees enter the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016. Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune State employees enter the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016. Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune State employees leave the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016. Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune State employees, who are also members of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), talk about the day's drill at the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016. The CERT members, who all work on Capitol Hill discussed how the drill went after employees reentered the buildings. Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune State employees enter the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016. Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune State employees enter the Utah State Capitol after fire alarms were pulled as part of the annual earthquake drill the Great Utah ShakeOut. State employees evacuated the capitol campus and practiced reuniting at evacuation points. The Utah Division of Emergency Management and the state emergency response team participated in a variety of exercises in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 21, 2016.

The Salt Lake Tribune

· April 21, 2016 1:36 pm

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Nearly 1 million Utahns signed up to "Drop, Cover and Hold On" during this year's edition of the Great Utah ShakeOut, where individual Utahns, businesses, schools, churches and government agencies took part in earthquake preparedness activities. A new forecast from the Working Group on Utah Earthquake Probabilities estimates a 43 percent probability that the Wasatch Fault Zone, along which 80 percent of the state's population lives, will be hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6.75 or greater within the next 50 years.