By Darine Sammour, September 22, 2026
Recent reports of earthquakes have raised concerns among Cal Poly Pomona students, faculty and staff about the university’s earthquake emergency resources.
As part of its ongoing efforts to prepare for a major earthquake, CPP participates in annual earthquake drills and provides emergency preparedness resources to students, faculty and staff as part of its efforts to prepare for a major earthquake.
As California continues to experience earthquakes, CPP’s preparedness efforts include participating in the annual Great ShakeOut drill, providing emergency go-bag resources and increasing structural safety measures. However, students and faculty have identified areas where they believe the university could improve its preparedness.
The Great ShakeOut occurs annually across the world on the third Thursday of October and is set to take place this year on Oct. 15, according to its website.
During the earthquake drill, every CPP student is notified of the shakeout via text or call through a safety alert system at the exact same time, and everyone on campus is mandated to take part in a standard drop, lock, cover and hold, according to the Office of Emergency Management.
“It’s helpful for that muscle memory and to be able to know what it looks like, especially if you’re inside your dorm or your class, you haven’t thought about that [what to do in an earthquake],” said Arlett Carmona, manager of the Office of Emergency Management. She believes that people will be more likely to respond if they have already practiced a drill before.
In an effort to prepare students, the Office of Emergency Management has a campaign encouraging students to create affordable go-bags in case of an earthquake. More information on go-bags can be found on its Instagram.
“Preparedness doesn’t have to be expensive,” Carmona said. “It’s about thinking of those other small things that can really make a big difference.”
There are other resources for earthquake preparedness; however, many of the links to access them do not work. Some of these resources include an emergency plan summary, emergency management plan video, emergency procedures, environmental health and safety, EvacuTrak Edu-tainement, earthquake preparedeness and safety for CPP employees and each of the three earthquake safety checklists in English, Chinese and Spanish. Whenever these resource links are clicked, the website shows “file not found” or “report broken link.”
Geography student Doni Baggett suggested creating information pamphlets and updating the school’s evacuation charts, which is what students rely on most in case of an emergency.
“I’ve seen what great earthquake preparedness looks like, and they’re not even hitting the bare minimum,” Baggett said.
Giuseppe Lomiento, co-chair of the department of civil engineering and a professor of structural engineering, said emergency drills and structural safety measures work together to protect people during an earthquake.
Even when a building is structurally designed to withstand earthquakes, people inside still need to take protective measures.
However at the same time, knowing how to respond during an earthquake cannot replace the importance of having a structurally sound building.
“You want to have a safe building, and you want to be sure that you know what to do in case of an earthquake,” Lomiento said. “Preparedness is the key word.”
Lomiento brought up seismic isolation, a building technique designed to reduce the effects of ground movement during an earthquake. The method separates a building from the ground, allowing it to move less during an earthquake, according to a blog by THK. While seismic isolation can improve a building’s earthquake protection, Lomiento said implementing it would require significant time and funding.
“Earthquakes are something that we don’t think about until they happen, and we live like they don’t exist,” Lomiento said. “This is the mentality that, in some sense, we need to change. We don’t need to be scared, we need to be prepared.”
Baggett also suggested making earthquake preparedness more engaging for students through ASI events tied to the annual shakeout.
“They can make it fun to prepare,” Baggett said. “If ASI promoted shakeout and gave out little stickers, that would be a nice way to boost awareness without alarming people.”
