On October 20, Amador students and staff participated in the California ShakeOut during their Access periods for 6 minutes. The main goal of the ShakeOut was to prepare residents in an event of an actual earthquake.

“The shakeout was shorter than expected, thankfully. I think the drills are pretty uncomfortable because we barely fit under the desks. But it’s a necessary precaution for California since we get so many earthquakes,” said Gracie Zheng (‘24).

Earlier this week October 17 was the 33rd anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989. The magnitude 6.9 quake caused interruptions in the World Series, collapsed the Bay Bridge, and caused $6 billion in damage.

“In Loma Prieta 1989 was at Cal-State East Bay taking a teachers course. It was 5 in the afternoon and we were about to begin class. Then all of a sudden, the shaking happened the class just went underneath the desks. The power went out a whole bit, the class was canceled, and the lights were off. When we went home the whole city was dark, city streets were not in use, it was crazy,” said Thomas Dalldorff, AV History Teacher.

Pleasanton is located near many fault lines, including the Calaveras Fault, Hayward Faults, San Andreas Fault, and the San Gregorio Faults. In the past 150 years, the Bay Area has experienced over 20 earthquakes of magnitudes greater than 6.

“I’ve lived through probably 25 earthquakes in the state of California and I understand that we are sitting next to many faults. So yes once a year we probably should take time to remind ourselves how to duck and cover correctly. So that way people know what to do during one of those things,” said Dalldorff.

In the past year, Pleasanton has experienced 332 earthquakes of magnitude 1.5 or higher. Though near the earthquake belt, Pleasanton has not experienced damage-heavy earthquakes, so most current Amador students have never experienced a major earthquake in their lifetimes.

“I have never experienced a big earthquake, to be honest. I don’t feel like it affects us too much here in Pleasanton despite living so close to many earthquake faults, mainly because earthquake safety is taken seriously here,” said Tanmayee Chalamalasetti (‘24).