Great Southern California ShakeOut

{{Use American English|date=September 2024}}

The Great California ShakeOut is an annual earthquake preparedness drill in California. It is one of the official regions in the Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills movement.{{Cite web|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/millions-of-california-residents-to-participate-in-shakeout-the-worlds-largest-earthquake-drill-300535147.html|title=Millions of California Residents to Participate in ShakeOut, the World's Largest Earthquake Drill|last=Alliance|first=Earthquake Country|agency=PR Newswire|access-date=2018-01-23}}

The first drill, known as The Great Southern California ShakeOut, took place on November 13, 2008,Jia-Rui Chong and Bob Pool, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-nov-14-me-shakeout14-story.html "Fake 'Big One' hits Southland"], Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2008. was the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history up until that time, and involved 5.3 million participants.{{cite news |title=Massive earthquake drill planned in California |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/05/content_8315973.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608014531/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/05/content_8315973.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 8, 2008 |agency=Xinhua News Agency |date=June 4, 2008 |accessdate=2008-06-24}} The Earthquake Country Alliance organized the Great Southern California ShakeOut.

This drill took place in homes, businesses, schools, places of worship and communities across Southern California and also featured week-long events to connect communities with preparedness resources and the information and knowledge to prepare, respond, and recover in the event of a disaster. The drill is now an annual event enlarged to cover the entire state of California.

The Great California ShakeOut 2009 attracted 6.9 million participants. The 2010 drill occurred on October 21 and attracted 7.8 million participants.[http://www.ocregister.com/news/great-272316-california-shakeout.html "Great ShakeOut called great success"], Orange County Register, October 21, 2010.{{cite web|url=http://www.shakeout.org/|title=Get Ready to ShakeOut!|publisher=shakeout.org|accessdate= June 24, 2010}} In 2012 the drill involved 9.4 million participants, and for the first time, the drill included the region's rail system.[http://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/features/2012/11/05/268870.htm "Great California ShakeOut: 9.4 million Drop, Cover, and Hold On"], Insurance Journal, November 5, 2013. In 2017, more than 10 million participants were involved.{{Cite web|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2017-10-19/californians-prepare-for-annual-shakeout-earthquake-drill|title=Californians Hold Annual 'ShakeOut' Earthquake Drill}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.ShakeOut.org/statistics|title=ShakeOut Statistics}}