Staff from the Cowichan Valley school district faced fires, downed electrical lines and screams from injured people in a realistic mock earthquake drill earlier this week.
The drill, held at the closed Mill Bay Elementary School, was part of the district’s emergency preparedness training for its staff.
Approximately 80 people, consisting of safety committee members from all the district’s schools, took part in the training over three days at the school.
The training involved actual taped sounds of earthquakes and the screams of its victims over a stereo system that was set up at the school, while staff members were required to put out pre-set fires, get everyone out of the building, and locate and extract injured people who were placed around the property.
“We start with a chaotic situation and work to try to bring some order to it,” said Russell Roy, an emergency preparedness professional who was brought into the district to assist with the training.
“We have victims inside who are made up to look like they are injured and have been coached on how to act injured. We also coached the staff members on duck and cover methods through the earthquake and its aftershocks.”
Mark Margerison, the district’s occupational health and safety manager, said each of the staff members involved in the program will bring the training back to their schools to share with other staff members.
“It’s part of our ongoing training of our staff to deal with emergencies in our schools,” he said.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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