Nearly 50,000 people in Otago will drop, cover and hold at 9.26am tomorrow as they take part in a national earthquake drill.
Businesses, schools, government departments, individuals and more will take part in New Zealand ShakeOut.
As of yesterday, 25,633 people in the Dunedin City Council area were registered to take part; 7432 in Queenstown Lakes district, 4248 in Central Otago, 3925 in Clutha, and 5069 in Waitaki.
More than half of the Otago participants are from schools and pre-schools, with 110 registrations from preschools on behalf of 5020 participants, and 128 registrations from schools on behalf of 28,440 participants.
The rest include 86 businesses, 21 government agencies and 28 organisations from the health and disability sector.
At least 1.2 million people nationwide will "Drop, Cover and Hold" once the "sting" signalling the start of the drill is broadcast on radio and television.
At the Dunedin City Council, staff will arrive in the morning to a note reminding them of the drill. The message will reflash on their computers just before the drill, when staff will drop, cover and hold. Fire wardens will then blow their whistles and staff will evacuate the building.
At St Clair School, the pupils will run through their well-practised earthquake drill at 9.26am and at technological company Intergen, based in the Willowbank Quarter in North Dunedin, employees will follow the instructions on a radio broadcast and drop, cover and hold until fire wardens have checked they had done it correctly.
Otago civil defence emergencymanagement (CDEM) group public information manager Peter Taylor said there was still time to register on the ShakeOut website and he encouraged everyone in the Otago region to take part if possible. It was an opportunity for households and businesses to create, review, and practise their planning for an earthquake or any emergency.
Key personnel in the Otago CDEM, which the regional council co-ordinated, would conduct a review and debriefing of the exercise and the Dunedin City Council and key emergency response managers would attend a workshop on how Dunedin would respond to a major earthquake.
Mr Taylor said territorial local authorities throughout the region had planned various community activities to coincide with the drill.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council had arranged two workshops in Queenstown and one in Wanaka, tomorrow and Thursday, for its staff as a follow-up to the drill.
The Waitaki District Council reported good involvement from schools, with eight preschools, 15 primary schools, three high schools and a polytechnic registered.
The Clutha district has been working with local schools and playcentres, helping the children practise the drill.
On the day, it would will also undertake a desktop exercise, including a simulation of the power being cut and testing of emergency power generation.
