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‘Great Shakeout’ drill focuses on prepping Utah for the next major earthquake along the Wasatch fault

 | April 19, 2018, 7:21 p.m.
| Updated: 10:54 p.m.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Emergency response captains, Terry Merritt, Karen Zundel, and Laurie Bagley make their way to the emergency assembly point in Presidents Circle on the University of Utah campus, during the Great Utah ShakeOut Annual Statewide Earthquake Drill Thursday, April 19, 2018.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Emergency response captains, Terry Merritt, Karen Zundel, and Laurie Bagley make their way to the emergency assembly point in Presidents Circle on the University of Utah campus, during the Great Utah ShakeOut Annual Statewide Earthquake Drill Thursday, April 19, 2018.

Hundreds of thousands of people throughout the state took part in Thursday’s “Great Shakeout” — a drill mimicking a 7.0-magnitude earthquake along the Wasatch fault.

The annual drill is meant to keep Utahns prepared for a major quake, which generally occurs about every 350-400 years, according to the Utah Geographical Survey. It has been roughly 350 years since the Wasatch fault’s last major earthquake.

Additional information on the drill and emergency preparedness resources can be found at Shakeout.org/Utah and BeReadyUtah.gov.