About 1 million Utahns participating in earthquake drill

Related articles: The Deseret News has been running a series on earthquake preparation in conjunction with the Great Utah ShakeOut drill.

SALT LAKE CITY — About a million Utah residents are pledging to drop, cover and hold for the largest earthquake drill in state history.

The Great Utah ShakeOut is set for 10:15 a.m. Tuesday. Businesses, schools and others who are participating are asked to take cover for about 60 seconds as if a real earthquake were happening.

Drill organizers are also asking residents to create a disaster preparedness plan, stock up on emergency supplies and identify weaknesses in their building that could create problems during a quake.

Taylorsville has set up a dummy Facebook and Twitter page (@tvilleshakeout) to use for the exercise.

The ShakeOut is organized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Utah Division of Emergency Management and the Southern California Earthquake Center.

This is Utah's first statewide drill, but similar drills happen annually in other states in earthquake country.