New Zealand’s national earthquake drill, New Zealand ShakeOut, happens at 9:26am today – but what should people do after the drill?

Stop, have a cup of tea, talk about disasters, and send the pictures!

The Director of Civil Defence Emergency Management, John Hamilton, said he wants New Zealand ShakeOut to be more than just a one-off, 10 or 20 second drill.

“Immediately after the drill is a good time for people to stop and talk about the drill, what they did, what might happen in a real earthquake, talk about their preparedness and also consider other emergencies. Many of the things people do to prepare for an earthquake are also important for other emergencies,” Mr Hamilton said.

“We hope the drill is a trigger for people and work places. As well as practicing the right thing to do in an earthquake, we are encouraging people to look at their emergency preparedness in more detail, at home and at work”

The Ministry has written a simple workplace discussion sheet to help start discussion after the drill. It is on the New Zealand ShakeOut website http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/memwebsite.nsf/Files/Shakeout/$file/workplacediscussionsheet.pdf  

“We would also love to hear from people about what they did for New Zealand ShakeOut, and to send us pictures,” Mr Hamilton said.

The stories and pictures will be shared with others who took part and will be used for part of the evaluation of the campaign. Photos, You Tube videos and stories can be uploaded to www.shakeout.govt.nz/share. After they have been reviewed, they will be available for everyone to see.

“More than 1.2 million people are involved. We are delighted with the response and it would be great to have a record of how people and workplaces made it their own drill.”

There is still time to join in New Zealand ShakeOut go to http://www.shakeout.govt.nz/register/index.php  

And, remember, in an earthquake the right thing to do is: