Content area
Full Text
The events of April 16, 2007, at Virginia Tech University are horrendous and almost unthinkable. Their sheer violence and the resulting high casualty rate cannot be understated: On this all agree. The immediate aftermath of any event that takes so many young and promising lives is, at best, chaotic and emotionally charged. Yet the time soon comes when reality sets in and we reflect on what needs to be done to preclude similar events from happening in the future - or at least to mitigate the possibility that they will. Emergency preparedness at the higher education level must take an "all hazards" approach; it must include preparedness for any contingency.
It is essential that the traditional emergency management structure be used as a framework for higher education emergency planning. The four phases of emergency management should be reflected in the architecture of all planning efforts. These include preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery. All of the phases overlap, are continuous, and affect the others. This represents the strategic view of the emergency planner as opposed to the individual first responder, known for having specialized and highly technical expertise. A key deficiency today is many local colleges and universities' lack of emergency planning expertise. Hurricane Katrina and, tragically, recent events at Virginia Tech make it clear that every campus must be prepared for a number of contingencies.
All hazards emergency planning starts with a detailed hazard analysis. In recent years, the terms threat assessment, vulnerability analysis, risk assessment, and others have been used to describe the process. Regardless of the process title that is used, the steps are the same. Indeed, these steps are the foundation of emergency planning. The emergency planning process is best accomplished by a professional or someone schooled in the art of assessment from an all hazards perspective. The key is to have someone who has an emergency planning background, not someone who views things from a single, particular viewpoint. It is foolhardy to assume that any first responder, fire/police, or other single function professional can determine all potential hazards or risks. Emergency planning differs from law enforcement and fire protection planning (though these fields certainly overlap in overall emergency planning).
Some subtle differences in perspective should be adopted when planning a response...