More than 52 million people—students, hospital workers, business employees, etc.—will take part in International Shakeout Day Thursday, October 19, 2017.

In the United States, the Great Shakeout earthquake drills start at 10:19 a.m. Well over 2 million of the 18 million Americans learning how to react to quakes live in the large New Madrid Seismic Zone. There three of the nation’s most powerful earthquakes, plus some 2,000 aftershocks, took place in 1811-1812.

But you know that if you’ve read Thunder Beneath My Feet.

Keep in mind three basic steps when an earthquake begins.

1. Drop onto your hands and knees so you won’t fall down and can crawl to any nearby shelter.
2. Cover your head and neck with one arm and hand to protect you as you crawl under a table, desk, or anything else that will protect you from falling objects. If you have no shelter nearby, crawl to an interior wall.
3. Hold on to your shelter but be ready to move if it gives way.

You can download drill manuals for schools and businesses and find information on what to do in various situations on shakeout.org. For example, if you’re in bed, stay there and lie face down to protect your vital organs, cover your head and neck with a pillow, and hold on to your head and neck with both hands until the shaking stops.

I’d always heard to stand in a doorway, but the site says you’re safer under a table.

Even if you don’t do a drill, check out the information and keep it in mind just in case.

—Carolyn Mulford