Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and the Clark County School District joined participants throughout the state in taking part in the Great Nevada ShakeOut earthquake drill recently. The Great Nevada ShakeOut was a day of special events featuring the largest earthquake drill ever, organized to inspire Nevadans to get ready for big earthquakes, and to prevent disasters from becoming catastrophes. The ShakeOut drill occurred in houses, businesses, and public spaces alike throughout Nevada and everyone was asked to "Drop, Cover and Hold On" for several seconds as they would if there were an earthquake. The school district was one of more than 500,000 participants in the drill statewide. All Clark County schools took part in the emergency drill. The event came to reality after Clark County Fire Chief Bertral Washington in May tasked Capt. Scott Straily with researching how earthquake drills could be implemented in the district. In June, Straily met with school district leaders and a partnership was formed. Other regional fire departments also came on board to support the effort. Additionally, County fire personnel worked with video staff from Clark County Television (CCTV) to produce training videos for local educators and fire personnel as well as audio files for use in the drills. Clark County Fire sent 90 personnel to 19 schools to effect and monitor the drills in the schools. County staff also took part in the drills, primarily in the Fire and Building departments and the Clark County Water Reclamation District. Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the union behind Alaska and California. Local governments will be participating in the drill at their government buildings, including participation from their fire departments at area schools. For more information, visit www.ShakeOut.org/nevada.