Jefferson Barracks Hosts 'Missouri ShakeOut' Earthquake Exercise
Connell Isaiah Jr., an inspector with University City; Jan Mercer, a civil engineer from Troy, Illinois; and Bryan Edwards, also an inspector, with Maryland Heights in north St. Louis County; visually inspect one of a few dozen buildings for simulated earthquake damage as participants in the Missouri ShakeOut 2015 post-earthquake structural assessment training exercise at Jefferson Barracks Air National Guard Base, Missouri, Oct. 16, 2015. Put on by the Missouri Structural Assessment and Visual Evaluation coalition and Missouri SEMA, more than 200 citizen volunteer building assessors practiced skills they might need following an earthquake, tornado or other natural disaster. Participants represented more than a dozen federal, state, county and municipal government, nonprofit and private organizations. Beyond hosting the two-day exercise at Jefferson Barracks, the 231st Civil Engineering Flight helped plan the event; 239th Combat Communications Squadron provided its mobile communications support; and the 131st Civil Engineering Squadron provided on-the-ground engineering support to the event (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Capt. Jeffrey Bishop)