Earthquake for Associations

Earthquake Tabletop Exercise for Associations

This exercise is part of our catalog of tabletop exercises for associations, societies, and nonprofits.

Scenario Overview

Participants serve as the leadership team for a fictional association when an earthquake strikes the region, shaking the facility and disrupting normal operations. Power is lost, employees are injured, and the building must initially shelter occupants in place while leadership assesses the situation and stabilizes immediate safety concerns.

As conditions evolve, the organization must work through medical issues, employee accountability, missing personnel, and the operational implications of an eventual evacuation. At the same time, deadlines remain, members are affected, and the association must begin thinking about how it will continue operating with the facility closed.

This exercise challenges association leadership teams to respond to a sudden regional disaster while balancing employee safety, communications, and the early stages of operational recovery.

Why This Scenario Matters for Associations and Nonprofits

Associations, societies, and nonprofit organizations often operate with lean staffing, shared office environments, member-facing responsibilities, and time-sensitive communications. A regional earthquake can quickly disrupt facilities, utilities, scheduled activities, and access to critical systems while also affecting the surrounding community.

This exercise helps leadership teams evaluate how they would respond when a major natural disaster threatens employee safety, interrupts normal operations, and creates pressure to continue serving members, donors, boards, or other stakeholders during a period of uncertainty.

Exercise Objectives

  • Evaluate leadership decision-making during a sudden regional natural disaster.
  • Discuss shelter-in-place versus evacuation decision-making.
  • Review employee accountability, injury response, and medical support needs.
  • Assess internal leadership coordination and communications during a developing emergency.
  • Examine how the organization would manage stakeholder impact and service disruption.
  • Identify priorities for early operational recovery following facility closure.

Typical Participants

  • Executive leadership
  • Operations management
  • Facilities or office management
  • Human resources
  • Communications or public affairs staff
  • Member services or program leadership
  • Business continuity or crisis management team members

Exercise Format

Conduct-It-Yourself Tabletop Exercises are structured, discussion-based simulations designed to help organizations test their response to disruptive events without the time and cost of a fully facilitated exercise. Participants are placed in the middle of a realistic scenario as it unfolds and must work through decisions, priorities, and consequences as a leadership team.

Each downloadable exercise package includes everything needed to conduct the session internally, including facilitator instructions, exercise overview materials, participant forms, a detailed scenario script, and a ready-to-run PowerPoint presentation that guides the scenario and discussion. The materials are designed so organizations can conduct the exercise as delivered or customize the storyline and supporting materials to reflect their own facilities, operations, and testing objectives.

Most exercises are designed to be conducted in approximately 2 to 4 hours. A typical agenda includes an exercise overview and scenario briefing, the facilitated disaster simulation discussion, group review and preparation for debriefing, and a structured post-exercise discussion to capture lessons learned and improvement opportunities.

Exercise Focus

  • Emergency Response
  • Shelter-in-Place
  • Evacuation

Related Tabletop Exercise Scenarios

Organizations exploring this scenario may also find these exercises useful:

Looking for a Facilitated Exercise for Your Association or Nonprofit?

Many organizations choose to run their exercises with an experienced facilitator to guide discussion, introduce evolving scenario developments, and capture improvement opportunities.

If you would prefer a professionally facilitated tabletop exercise for your association or nonprofit, learn more about our consulting services.

Explore Facilitated Tabletop Exercises for Associations & Nonprofits

Purchase & Download

This exercise is delivered as a downloadable package that includes facilitator instructions, scenario materials, and structured discussion prompts to guide the exercise.

SKU CIYAM006
$595.00