Several buildings in San Francisco’s Civic Center neighborhood are being evacuated this morning as part of a drill to prepare for a large-scale disaster.
Occupants of City Hall, San Francisco Superior Court’s Civic Center Courthouse, the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law and the city’s Department of Public Health and Public Utilities Commission offices are participating in the drill, which was scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m.
This is the fourth year that the evacuation exercise has taken place in the Civic Center area, UC Hastings and drill spokesman Alex A.G. Shapiro said.
“It’s really so the neighborhood can learn to work better together and prepare in case anything occurs,” Shapiro said. “It gives us an opportunity to reconnect and update on who our colleagues are in the different buildings.”
He said that this year, drill organizers are focusing on assisting disabled people who may be most in need of help during a crisis.
No streets are being closed, but there may be some traffic delays, organizers said.
Shapiro said the drill is expected to wrap up by 11:30 a.m.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
