Drop, cover and hold on! Louisville students participate in earthquake drill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Drop, cover and hold on! Remembering those words could mean life or death, if an earthquake hits.

Students at Lincoln Elementary school in downtown Louisville were just some of the 2 million people across 14 states to take part in the Great Central U.S. Shakeout earthquake drill on Thursday.

If an earthquake hits, students are told to drop to their knees, cover their head and neck -- crawl under a desk or table -- and hold onto it until the shaking stops.

Principal Susan French-Epps said children learned an important lesson. "Well, today our students participated in the state-mandated earthquake drill, and our students took the position to keep themselves safe by placing themselves under the desk and holding themselves still and listening to the directions of a nearby adult."

The central U.S. is home to several active faults including the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which is located 180 miles southwest of Evansville. Scientists think there is a good chance of a serious earthquake happening in the central part of the country sometime within the next 50 years.

To learn more about earthquake readiness, visit Shakeout.org.