At 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 7, Oklahomans are asked to drop to the ground, roll under a desk (or another sturdy object) and hang on for 60 seconds.
The exercise — sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and the Oklahoma Geological Survey — is part of the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut, in which nine states participate in an earthquake safety drill.
That’s hardly a fanciful notion these days, when you consider that Oklahoma weathered a 5.6 magnitude earthquake in November. Evidently, tornadoes, drought and the State Fair weren’t enough of a cross for us to bear.
Still, we just can’t get our heads around the notion of everyone spontaneously collapsing to the ground at 10:15 a.m. sharp to seek cover. What if we’re in a meeting at that time? What if we’re on the toilet? What if we’re, um, in the middle of an earthquake?
This article appears in Feb 1-7, 2012.