**LEAD STORY**
Last Thursday, a powerful 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck Oakland, California. Fires were started by the quake. Freeways were badly damaged. Electrical power to the entire downtown section of the city was knocked out.
What? You say that you didn't hear about this happening? Well ... it really didn't happen. But for three hours on Thursday, emergency response teams and city officials acted like it was the real thing. The quake was a simulated one that was testing the city's readiness in the event of such a disaster.
The Hayward Fault cuts right through the City of Oakland, that is located across the bay from San Francisco and has a population of more than 300,000 people. Even a 5.0 magnitude earthquake is more than enough to cause serious damage.
Henry Renteria, the emergency services manager of the Oakland Fire Department, said, "We have to remind people over and over again that it is not a matter of whether the big one is going to happen, it's a matter of when."
On Thursday, the quake "hit" at 0900 PDT. During the drill, police, medical and military helicopters practiced landing in a vacant lot located behind the federal building in downtown Oakland. The choppers were testing possible landing sites for transporting injured victims.
At 1000 PDT, it was announced at City Hall that the "big one" had indeed struck the city. Across the street, at the Emergency Operations Center, fire, police, medical officials and utilities experts crowded into a room that was set up with computers, radios, and damage summary charts. Their job was to assess the disaster and send needed public safety units to where they were needed.
A variety of reports came pouring into the Emergency Operations Center. A train derailment. A hazardous materials spill. A large fire. Damage to the freeway. And even the escape of three lions from the city zoo. It was calculated that even though this was a major earthquake -- only eight people were killed and a little more than 200 were injured.
The drill received a grade of B-plus from the Assistant City Manager. Some glitches in the response were found and work will begin to correct them before the real thing does hit.
(c) EmergencyNet News Service, 1996, All Rights Reserved.