If, at 10:21 this morning, your BART train stops, you hear our (multilingual) emergency sirens go off, or you see Gavin Newsom drop and cover, DO NOT TRIP — it’s just the Great California ShakeOut earthquake preparedness drill.

As part of the drill, which Haighteration reports will be, uh, drilled by 348,837 folks in SF alone (guess they got on the ball and registered all official like), at 10:21 BART will, they say “bring to a stop all trains for about one minute” and will “use the time to say ‘thanks’ to its riders and the public for their overwhelming support for a 2004 BART Earthquake Safety bond measure. The agency will also use the symbolic stopping of trains to remind customers why BART halts service immediately after even minor quakes.”

Mayor Newsom will forgo public transit to appear in room 212 of Richmond District Alamo Elementary School, presumably Drop, Cover and Hold On-ing after all 104 of our Outdoor Public Warning System Sirens (aka the Tuesday noon whistle) are activated at 10:21 AM.

Are you or is your workplace participating in the drill? Are you excited about being thanked by BART? Is someone going to take pictures of Gavin dropping and covering and holding on and, if so, will you send them to us?

the author

Eve Batey is the editor and publisher of the San Francisco Appeal. She used to be the San Francisco Chronicle's Deputy Managing Editor for Online, and started at the Chronicle as their blogging and interactive editor. Before that, she was a co-founding writer and the lead editor of SFist. She's been in the city since 1997, presently living in the Outer Sunset with her husband, cat, and dog. You can reach Eve at eve@sfappeal.com.

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