Today at 10:20 a.m. Pacific time, many Californians participated in the Great California ShakeOut, a state-wide drill that helps people and organizations be better prepared for major earthquakes. Wherever they were at that moment this morning, those who participated practiced the drop, cover and hold on technique as if there were a major earthquake occurring at that moment.

In an article I penned in the October issue of Risk Management, I summed up the history of this gargantuan drill.

Started in 2008, the Great California ShakeOut began as the Great Southern California ShakeOut — an effort by scientists and emergency managers to inform the public about earthquake preparedness. The drill was based on the ShakeOut Scenario, a comprehensive description of the destruction a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault would cause in Southern California, which was organized by the United States Geological Survey’s Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project. In 2008, the ShakeOut became the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history with 5.4 million participants spanning eight counties in Southern California. This year, more than eight million are expected to participate in California alone with Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia practicing the “drop, cover and hold on” technique as well.

The drill has since spread to Japan, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska, Turkey and Chile. Below is a video produced by the Great California ShakeOut team showing the exact drill millions followed this morning.