Pupils at Geraldine Kindergarten were scheduled to practise their earthquake drill last week, when the real deal beat them to it.
Head teacher Rachel Johnston said the children were receiving foot spas when the quake struck.
Geonet said the quake — which struck at 9.14am on September 20 — was 10km deep, 45km north of Geraldine.
While initial reports put the earthquake magnitude at 5.4, that was upgraded over the next hour to5.9 and then to 6.4 before dropping again to 6. A magnitude-3.6 aftershock was recorded about 10 minutes after the first quake. Ms Johnston said the pupils were celebrating Harmony Day when the water in their foot spas started splashing. She said Harmony Day was about celebrating ‘‘everything that makes you you’’.
‘‘And celebrating ourselves as individuals.’’
Teacher Sandra Lambert said one of the teachers realised the ground was shaking and calmly said to the foot spa clients, ‘‘Turtles, turtles’’.
Ms Lambert said ‘‘turtles’’ was their word for getting into the earthquake hold.
She said all of the children knew what to do.
‘‘We practise regularly and it is good toknow our practices paid off.’’
She had been through the Christchurch earthquake and said it was ‘‘quite surreal’’ going through a quake again.
Geraldine District Free Kindergarten Association general manager Helen May said the ministry rang within minutes of the shake.
‘‘It was a courtesy call,’’ Mrs May said.
‘‘We told them we were all good and everyone was fine — that we’d followed all the procedures to ensure the safety of all of our children.’’
She said nothing fell, which was to be expected as the building —and everything in it — was earthquake proofed.
