WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — At Philo T. Farnsworth Elementary, students participated in an assembly on earthquake and disaster preparedness.
"If an earthquake happens, go under your seat or anything that you can go under and grab the legs so it doesn’t fall on you," said Santi Jimenez, a fifth-grader.
On Thursday, hundreds participated in the "Great Utah ShakeOut," an annual earthquake drill designed to raise awareness to the risks and ways to mitigate the damage.
"Having events like the Great Utah ShakeOut helps us, making sure we’re more resilient," said Amanda Ward with the American Red Cross.
But some other efforts to help Utah prepare for an earthquake have been unfunded or seen cuts. Funding requests for an early warning system have not seen much. A seismic safety commission was disbanded as part of a larger effort to reduce the number of boards and commissions the state has.
"We live in earthquake country and to have a commission dedicated to researching and looking at the issues that could mitigate the risk to our citizens to the state of Utah, at no cost to the state, I felt it was just one of those things we shouldn’t let go," said Rep. Thomas Peterson, R-Brigham City, who ran a bill to reinstate the earthquake safety commission.
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The legislature rejected his bill and Rep. Peterson said he has no plans to revisit it. Still, he hoped people would continue to heed experts' advice and prepare.
At his monthly news conference on PBS, Governor Spencer Cox insisted they had not abandoned earthquake preparation efforts.
"There’s always work that needs to be done on the funding side. We understand that," he said. "The commissions work, we have experts that are doing this work all over the state. Utah State University has several experts working on this, University of Utah as well. We are getting the information we need from the experts to do the work. We have several projects going on across the state specifically with infrastructure, dam safety, pipelines."
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Gov. Cox said the state has mapped vulnerable areas in the event of an earthquake.
"This is something that’s going to take decades to do. I do feel like we’re moving in the right direction but certainly some urgency is helpful," he said.
Ward said there is a lot Utahns can do to be prepared, including ensuring homes have emergency kits and water. The American Red Cross offers classes and resources for people to prepare in the event of an earthquake. Information on that can be found here.
"Make sure you have a go plan and a plan for your family," she said.
