Earthquake Simulator Brings 7.0-Magnitude Shake Experience to Balboa Park on Oct. 15, Final Stop of Cal OES Four-City Tour
SAN DIEGO — San Diego is a city in San Diego County, California. The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) kicked off its 2026 Great California ShakeOut Tour this week, and the traveling earthquake simulator will roll into Balboa Park on Thursday, October 15, for its final stop. Members of the public can board the simulator free of charge and feel shaking that replicates the intensity of an earthquake up to magnitude 7.0.
According to the Cal OES announcement released October 8, the tour runs four straight days across four California cities: San Francisco State University on October 12, Sacramento State on October 13, UCLA in Los Angeles on October 14, and Balboa Park in San Diego on October 15.
The San Diego stop is set for the area north of the Plaza de Panama Fountain, at 1549 El Prado. Public hours run from 6 a.m. to noon. In addition to the simulator ride, earthquake experts will be on hand to talk about Earthquake Early Warning technology, preparedness tips, and the life-saving Drop, Cover, Hold On actions. The Cal OES-branded simulator measures 14 feet high by 9 feet wide by 36 feet long.
Notably, October 15 is also the day of the annual Great California ShakeOut: at 10:15 a.m., millions of Californians will simultaneously practice Drop, Cover, Hold On, the largest public earthquake-preparedness activity in the nation.
Cal OES Director Caroline Thomas Jacobs said in a statement that in California, the question is not whether the next earthquake will strike but when — which is why the state is bringing preparedness tools and information directly to communities so families can protect themselves before disaster hits.
Some context: California sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, crossed by the San Andreas Fault and many other faults, and earthquakes are considered one of the state's principal natural-disaster threats. While San Diego is not in the highest-shaking zone like San Francisco or Los Angeles, the region has felt strong Southern California quakes many times. Cal OES also used the announcement to debunk common myths: small earthquakes do not relieve fault pressure and prevent bigger ones; aftershocks can sometimes be as destructive as the main shock; and doorways are no safer than other parts of a modern building — Drop, Cover, Hold On remains the correct response.
Media must RSVP in advance to [email protected]. The public needs no reservation — just head to Balboa Park on the morning of the 15th. More information and registration are available at ShakeOut.org.
This article is adapted from the Cal OES announcement (October 8, distributed via EIN Presswire), Timesng (October 9), and ad-hoc-news (October 10).
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: CC0（Wikimedia Commons，摄影：Librarybell）
