Moorpark College participated, with millions of other Californians, in the largest earthquake preparedness drill in United States history on Nov. 13, in order to prepare faculty and staff to adequately handle a real emergency.
Moorpark College President Pam Eddinger believes that the drill and training were a success.
“We were able to coordinate with the California Shake Out Drill and it was very effective,” said Eddinger. “I am very confident that we know and understand the goals of the exercise.”
Faculty members responded to a large-scale earthquake and were told that three buildings were burning and a number of students on campus were injured.
Ray Di Guilio, Vice President of Business Services, was very satisfied with how smoothly the drill operated.
“The coordinators were diligent in their tasks and knew exactly what to do,” said Di Guilio.
Moorpark College brought in an outside advisor, who specializes in emergency operation plans, to train and evaluate the staff members. West Coast Consulting Group gave each member of the emergency team a USB drive with a detailed description of the emergency plan to have something to refer to. The drive included a manual form to purchase supplies from the local community.
Moorpark also tested all of its emergency broadcast systems, such as the marquee and the emergency broadcasts on the telephones, to ensure that they were all working properly.
Moorpark’s new emergency plan also has a recovery plan for students and faculty to help them cope with a disasters’ aftermath. The 30-day incident plan will ensure that all of the buildings are safe enough to enter and okay to resume classes in. The plan will also help students resettle.
The goal of the plan is to minimize the amount of disruption to the students’ life and to help them adjust.
“It makes me feel better to know that we are training our staff to manage these situations,” said Eddinger. “I personally feel like I can breathe better.”
Moorpark is also encouraging students to sign up their emergency contact information on Webstar so they can receive emergency broadcasts.
If the students understand what they need to do, it will help faculty and the emergency team better address the situation.