University prepares for disaster

By Rachel Schwartz

In the wake of the 6.6 magnitude Hawaii earthquake and the 17th anniversary of Loma Prieta, campus administrators are working to educate students about their options in an emergency.

E-Prep'd is the university's public relations campaign to educate students about the existing disaster plan and what they should do in the event of an emergency, such as earthquake, fire or terrorist attack.

"We want, a year from now, for students to be more aware of their need to be self-reliant in the event of an emergency," said Jeanne Rosenberger, vice provost for student life.

The program was created after administrators realized the need to inform students about existing emergency procedures like emergency assembly points and evacuation routes.

"There was an obvious disconnect -- we had a plan but not enough people knew about it," said Matt Cameron, assistant vice provost of student life.

A poll conducted by The Santa Clara in its Jan. 26 issue revealed that only 7 percent of undergraduate respondents had read the university's Emergency Procedure Handbook. Cameron said that the poll along with the accompanying article was the catalyst for administrators to educate students about the disaster plan.

"That was really the last straw to make us ask, 'How can we educate people the community, specifically students?' " Cameron said.

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake struck campus at 5:04 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989. According to The Santa Clara archives, there were no major injuries, but the campus was left without power. Students in Dunne and Swig Halls stayed overnight in the Leavey Center.

E-Prep'd originated within a public relations class taught by communication professor Buford Barr during the spring quarter. Cameron challenged the class to come up with a solution for educating students about emergency preparedness.

"They (the students) don't decide policies or procedures. They decide how do we then end up marketing, how to get the word out," Cameron said.

Cameron said students are invested in creating a good plan because of their ties to Santa Clara, and by making the plan a class project the university also did not have to spend extra money.

"Why spend money when the better resource is right here on campus?" Cameron asked.

Over the summer, Cameron met with students and administrators and took suggestions from all of the plans to form E-prep'd.

The E-prep'd budget has not been finalized, but Cameron estimates they will spend between $10,000 and $20,000 on the program this year, which as of right now will come from the Office of Student Life budget. In August, Cameron hired three students to help implement E-Prep'd.

In the future, E-prep'd will have a web site linking directly to the online version of the emergency handbook.

They also plan an information table in Benson Memorial Center relating to a new topic each month, and they hope to revise evacuation maps in classrooms to make them easier to understand.

Contact Rachel Schwartz at (408) 554-4546 or rschwartz@scu.edu.