The 20th national “Earthquake and Safety” Drill was held in Fatemeh Pezeski high school in Karaj (Alborz province), on November 28, 2018. Same as previous years, the drill was organized by the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Ministry of Interior, Red Crescent and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Around 14 million students participated in this drill all over the country. The main goal of the drill focused on increasing the student’s earthquake awareness and related training on safety provisions and sheltering during earthquakes. The motto of this year drill was “Safe Schools – Resilience Communities.
Accordingly, the fourth community-based earthquake drill was held in Tehran and other provinces in the same day. Few schools were chosen as the safe schools with structural and non-structural features. The required training was given to students of the pilot schools and the local people. On the “Earthquake and Safety Drill” day, the students performed the correct sheltering after the Earthquake Safety Alarm was broadcasted from Iran National Radio. The neighborhood residents also took part in this drill with the students. The earthquake drill was held in many schools in the country with focus on issues such as sheltering, emergency exit and helping others. Representatives from International Organizations such as UNESCO were also present in this drill.
