Oct. 5, 2004

An Exercise in Emergency Preparedness

University Holds Disaster Simulations to Prepare GW’s Emergency Response

By Greg Licamele

For more than a year now, disasters and crises have hit the University, affecting the operations, lives and academic mission of the institution.

But few on campus have heard anything about it.

The senior leadership of the University and other key offices have engaged in crisis exercises that test their ability to respond to major incidents in Foggy Bottom, Washington and around the country. These real-time simulations serve many purposes, including refining the decision-making process, understanding the available technology during an incident, experiencing the communications flow among groups and then taking lessons learned to change policies.

“It’s truly impressive to watch the leadership of the University work through these challenges, solve situations and find ways to mitigate their effect on what’s happening at the University so we can either keep things normal or return them to normal as rapidly as possible,” said John Petrie, assistant vice president for public safety and emergency management.

Eleven exercises have been conducted at different levels of the University since early 2003. The exercises focus on specific scenarios developed around GW’s realistic environment for that day. A stat sheet of sorts is compiled before each exercise begins listing key information about campus or city events for the day that should be considered when making decisions.

“I don’t think any of the scenarios that we have done could go into the category of ‘likely,’ ” Petrie said. “That’s the good news. But we look at things that could happen here and we build a scenario around those.”

Petrie said that as the exercises unfold, real building names and real locations within facilities are used based on research his office helps compile. For exercises involving GW’s top leadership, a command center is established so the vice presidents can gather and make the appropriate decisions. Other groups, such as the Response Management Group and the Communications Group, participate in these exercises, while specific departments, such as Information Systems and Services, University Police Department and Facilities Management also play key roles in the exercises and, if necessary, during an actual incident.

“I think these exercises are absolutely critical for the University because all of the senior staff is learning that you really do have to have some type of experience in taking action under crisis-type situations,” said Donald R. Lehman, executive vice president for academic affairs.

A command center stands as a cornerstone for information-sharing among the senior leadership of the University and other principal participants. Petrie said he could not identify the facility, but noted the location serves other purposes during the year. He said it takes less than 30 minutes to fully assemble the space.

“Each person involved in the command center work has a telephone with a phone number and voice mail and a laptop computer,” Petrie said. “But those are not the things that make the command center work. What makes it work is the process of the people who come there and work together to address the challenges that we hope we never face.”

Petrie added the senior leadership also has been equipped with Nextel Blackberries, providing an around-the-clock way to reach decision makers, if necessary. Outside business hours, command center personnel can work in alternative ways, Petrie said.

Dave Swartz, chief information officer, said he has learned what technologies are best to use during an incident and more importantly, he has learned how to use the tools effectively.

“For example, the team is now routinely using Blackberries for everyday communication,” Swartz said. “This device can serve as our cell phone, a place to receive and send E-mail or instant messages, an online directory, a Web browser, a press-to-talk radio, etc. One device does all of this and we use it everyday so we are comfortable with using it, so if a disaster strikes we know how to use it and it is ready to be used.”

During the exercises, information flows from many sources, including reports from the field, first responders, mock news reports and general conditions around the city. In turn, this input is synthesized and acted upon, if necessary, by the leadership and response groups. Often times, Petrie said, exercise Campus Advisories Web pages are used for simulation purposes.

“Each exercise has taken a little greater reach,” Petrie said of the exercises that began last year. “For example, the latest exercise actually deployed all of the UPD vehicles with speaker systems to test the speakers in real time during the exercise.”

Petrie said the best ways for an individual or department to be prepared to respond to decisions made at a University level are to be familiar with their local contingency plans and to check the Campus Advisories Web site on a regular basis for the latest developments.

“I think they would be as best prepared as possible to know what the first action should be if something happened and to understand the kind of guidance they might be receiving during an incident,” Petrie said.

Petrie’s office welcomes the opportunity to write scenarios impacting a specific organization if departments want to exercise their local plans.

“We’d like to take these as far as is consistent with the academic environment,” he said.

As vice presidents and other departments prepare for their next exercise, ever mindful of the possibility of a real situation, practicing the decision-making process stands as the fundamental key to these occasional sessions every semester.

“When you have a crisis, the more automatic it is in what you do, the better off you are,” Lehman said. “If you don’t have the experience of having done it, sometimes you may not be thinking of all aspects, which you do have a chance to do in these exercises.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu

Related Link

Campus Advisories