The SF State Office of Emergency Preparedness conducted an earthquake drill on Tuesday as part of Bay Area-wide Disaster Preparedness Week.

The University Police Department and members of the SF State Housing Department created a simulated disaster scenario that afternoon in the Administration building. Resident assistants and housing staff acted as earthquake victims and safety officers, working with UPD to demonstrate what could occur in an actual emergency involving severe injuries and casualties. The RAs were made up with fake wounds and lay on the floor as if they had been injured in a major earthquake.

The university also tested its emergency disaster notification system, which sends 90,000 phone and e-mail messages in 30 minutes, reaching roughly 30,000 students and 4,000 faculty and staff during an emergency. The notification system will be operational this spring, according to Gayle Orr-Smith, emergency preparedness coordinator for UPD.

“The main goal is to raise awareness,” Orr-Smith said.

Orr-Smith, who led San Francisco’s emergency efforts during the Loma Prieta earthquake as director of emergency services, is heading SF State’s first Office of Emergency Preparedness. “I was really pleased,” she said after the drill was completed, calling the exercise “plausible” and an “eye-opener.”

“It is interactive publicity,” Residential Life Associate Director David Rourke said of the mock scenario. “It has a shock value to it.”

Campus housing conducts four or five emergency training sessions a year, Rourke said. Building coordinators also meet quarterly to plan and train in case of a natural disaster. Now, SF State is trying to branch out into different departments and bring disaster awareness to all areas of campus.

People walking through the Administration building during the drill were handed leaflets with basic instructions for how “the non-trained responder is to deal with large numbers of casualties during area-wide disasters.” Many people stopped to see if the made-up RAs needed help.

“I don’t know if they thought it was a protest,” Orr-Smith said with a smile. “But I was glad that they were asking questions.”

RA Jersey Clark, 19, said some people seemed to be taking the drill very seriously.

“One woman came up and asked me if I needed help,” said Clark, who was lying on the concrete outside the building doors with fake blood on his face and shirt. “I think I almost gave her a heart attack.”

Tuesday, Oct. 21 marked the 140th anniversary of the last major earthquake that occurred along the Hayward fault line. Experts at the United States Geological Survey believe that the next major earthquake in this region could be caused by the Hayward fault. Bay Area counties, including the county of San Francisco, are coordinating with local emergency response agencies to promote earthquake safety in schools.

“It’s nice because it’s semi-realistic, where people can see real injuries,” housing employee Boswell Huang said. “Hands-on is what sticks out in people’s minds the most.”

SF State began offering emergency preparedness courses this fall. First Aid, CPR and defibrillator training is now being offered to faculty and staff members. Another disaster awareness service being offered is NERT—Neighborhood Emergency Response Team—which the San Francisco Fire Department runs to teach disaster survival. Survival training includes safety preparations in people’s homes and how to treat disaster-related injuries.

Orr-Smith said that there will be more drills in the future, and that “it’s good to do drills one building at a time to avoid chaos on campus.”

[X]press staff writer, Brittany Owens, contributed to this report.