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Western Washington University plans to test its capability to quickly and effectively respond to an earthquake during a drill on Wednesday, Oct. 27, that also will involve a test of its emergency steam whistle and notification system known as Western Alert.

A number of Western employees and students will participate in the on-campus damage assessment exercise. Participants will simulate evaluation of damage to the �������� campus, and communication of ��������’s situation to the community’s emergency operations center. There will be radio traffic during the drill about fictitious building collapses and fictitious injuries.

The exercise will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will conclude before 11 a.m.

At 10:45 a.m., the “Big Ole” steam whistle will sound for several minutes and a test message will be sent out to students, faculty, and staff via campus e-mail and cell phone text messaging. Test messages will also be posted on the University’s homepage at and the Emergency Information website at . The steam whistle is a signal on campus to immediately look for emergency information via these ways.

A text message is one of the most reliable ways to quickly provide emergency information. Even if users do not regularly text on their cell phones, most phones are capable of receiving text information. Western students, faculty and staff who have not yet registered to receive Western Alerts via text message are asked to update their personal information via the . Employees may also call the Human Resources Department at 650-3774 for assistance in signing up.

To date, 86 percent of �������� students, 57 percent of staff and 42 percent of faculty members have provided their cell phone numbers to Web4U to receive emergency text messages.

In the Oct. 27 exercise, Western students, faculty and staff also are being asked to consider the steam whistle a reminder of the opportunity to practice their drop, cover and hold earthquake preparations. For more information see the .

The steam whistle, affectionately known in Whatcom County as “Big Ole,” was cast from aluminum-bronze by the Bellingham Bay Iron Works in 1899. The 2,000-pound, five-foot whistle operated at the local lumber mill on the waterfront at the foot of Cornwall Avenue until 1942 when that mill closed. In May 2002 the whistle was recovered from the Bloedel, Stewart-Welch’s Division at Port Alberni, B.C. which operated it until 1997. The steam whistle was installed at the Encogen NW Cogeneration Plant at Cornwall Avenue, where it was operational and blown on several special occasions, such as the Fourth of July. Several years ago, Western worked in cooperation with the Whatcom Museum to relocate the steam whistle to the University’s Steam Plant.