Earthquake preparedness drill scheduled Oct. 15 in Arizona

TUCSON — Thousands of Arizona school children will participate in an earthquake preparedness drill next week.

The “drop, cover and hold on” drill takes place Oct. 15, with 41,000 students expected to participate along with people in government offices, health facilities and businesses.

According to the Arizona Geological Survey, the greatest immediate danger in most homes and buildings is from flying or falling items such as ceiling tiles, furniture, pictures, lights, mirrors and ceiling fans.

The survey says most of the hundreds of earthquakes that occur annually in Arizona go unfelt but that there’s a potential for life-threatening quakes of large magnitude.

In November 2014, a magnitude 4.7 earthquake near Sedona rocked parts of northern and central Arizona. The survey says an estimated 470,000 people may have felt that earthquake.