Hello, Virginia Western is encouraging students, faculty and staff to voluntarily participate in the 2022 Great Southeast ShakeOut! At 10:20 am (local time) on 10/20, you can join more than a million people across the Southeast U.S. practicing earthquake safety. While we know sizable earthquakes are rare in this part of Virginia we do know that they can happen. Remember, a decade ago Virginia experienced a widely-felt earthquake at 1:51 p.m. eastern daylight time on Tuesday, August 23, 2011. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the epicenter of the quake was located near Mineral, in Louisa County. With a magnitude of 5.8, this is the largest Virginia earthquake recorded by seismometers. There was damage identified at Virginia Western from that quake. We ask that if you do walk through the self generated exercise that you do so calmly and methodically. We hope you find time to play along.

Thank you!

Craig S. Harris

Campus Police and Preparedness