Several people wear headphones, some sit with ham radios, cell phones, and land line telephones. Victoria Harrison, the chief of police, barks orders to her staff. The atmosphere is dead serious and crackling with tension, like at Mission Control during Apollo 13. Instantly someone adds Evans Hall to the chalk board. Another staff person adds acetone to the butcher paper in red magic marker.
Someone coughs nervously.
Depicted here is a training exercise organized by the Office of Emergency Preparedness to test Berkeley's response to a mock earthquake on the northern segment of the Hayward fault. Major damage to campus. Dangerous electrical and gas breaks. People trapped in buildings. Escaped laboratory animals.