The standard advice now taught in California schools is "Duck, cover, hold." Basically everything that parent poster said, but in a pithy 3-word aphorism you're more likely to remember.
The weak ones don’t prepare you for the strong ones.
I’ve been rocking and rolling in So Cal for decades. I’ve felt most of the major quakes that have made the news. I’ve seen stuff fall from my walls, transformers short out and explode. Felt rollers, thumpers, shakers.
We’ve had four of note at my house this year alone so far. One of them felt like it picked the house up and dropped it several inches.
Each time, they were never severe enough to get me to dive for anything. It’s just like that dinner scene in LA Story, where they just grab their glasses and carry on.
Then, you see videos of “real quakes”. Stuff out of movies. File cabinets sliding across the floor. Bookcases falling. Heavy things tossed like they weigh nothing, not to mention the larger damage.
Having been through my series of quakes, I can see they’re nothing like a major one. But, right now, my gumption when one shows up is wait and see. Perhaps not the best habit. But when you’re in bed at night, and a small roller hits and it feels like you just dropped a quarter in the slot to turn your bed on, hard to get motivated to get up and out and duck and cover.
Better just to roll over, say “it’s ok honey” to my wife, and go back to sleep.
In California, even saving yourself from being on fire is taxed.
I guess my fellow Californians can be a little touchy about taxes.
I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to be holding onto. Do I briefly cover my head with my arms, then stop covering my head to hold onto the table? Do I hold onto my head while I cover it? Do I cover my loved one's head and they cover mine, sharing our last moments in a loving hold?
Now I'm beginning to wonder if I made a massive assumption that I would be covering my head with my hands. That's what I would do during a tornado, but maybe I'm supposed to be covering my head with a blanket so my hands are free for the hold on part?
Honestly, my facetious hold my bladder advice seems more apropos than anything I've managed to come up with for part three.
DROP or DUCK down to your hands and knees
Take COVER protecting your head/neck with an arm and crawl under a sturdy table/desk possible or to a nearby interior wall away from potential falling objects
HOLD ON to your shelter if you have it or head/neck with both hands if you don't
It's not as obvious as stop, drop and roll which is why drills are a thing in schools.
It's also not terribly far from duck and cover drills for nukes or tornadoes as I understand it. The hold on bit was added to keep people from tripping and breaking a leg while running around while the ground is shaking.
I grew up on the west coast and that's exactly how it was taught to us in public schools.