# 6124
The Great Central U.S. Shakeout, scheduled for today (Feb 7th) at 10:15am, will hopefully bring more than 3 million people together for a multistate earthquake drill.
This exercise will be conducted in the style of The Great California Shakeout which has been been running successfully for a number of years (see Reminder: Great Shakeout On Thursday).
As far as how to protect yourself during an earthquake, officials advise:
PROTECT YOURSELF. SPREAD THE WORD.
Official rescue teams who have been dispatched to the scene of earthquakes and other disasters around the world continue to advocate use of the internationally recognized "Drop, Cover and Hold On" protocol to protect lives during earthquakes:
- DROP to the ground (before the earthquake drops you!),
- Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and
- HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops.
If there isn’t a table or desk near you, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner of the building. Do not try to run to another room just to get under a table.
