SECTION 3
EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE PROCEDURES
SCHOOL PRINCIPAL / ADMINISTRATOR
BEFORE:
- Maintain staff awareness.
- Hold drills and conduct / arrange training.
- Oversee identification of nonstructural hazards.
- Establish a release policy and determine how this policy will be communicated to parents.
- Familiarize yourself with district arrangements for immediate damage assessment after a damaging earthquake.
- Take an inventory of the staff for skills that may be useful in earthquake planning -- ham radio operator, bi-lingual, etc.
- Evaluate records with the district and determine if there are any where a back-up copy should be stored off-site.
- Make sure the area to be used as an emergency operations center contains a map of the school site and an enrollment sheet for the current year.
- Develop a release plan for your staff that takes into account who has families and other responsibilities outside of school.
- Establish a school bus policy if a damaging earthquake occurs while students are enroute to or from school.
- Ensure essential considerations are provided for special needs students.
DURING:
- Duck, cover and hold at first sign of earthquake. Hold on to furniture legs if furniture moves. If outside, move away from buildings.
AFTER:
- Account for all staff and students.
- Implement and coordinate emergency operations.
- Control internal and external communications -- including contact with the enroute school buses, district and city agencies by radio, runner, etc.
- Decide on the need for evacuation and other critical issues.
- Keep record of events, decisions and actions.
- Designate a spokesperson for the press.
- If there is the slightest suspicion that the school has suffered structural damage make contact with the district architect or a structural engineer, according to the district plan.
- An evacuation outdoors should be ordered if the structural integrity of the building is in doubt. Nonstructural damage would not necessarily require an evacuation.
- In communication with district, assess overall situation -- how long students might be at school, how supplies might be distributed, if students will be sheltered at school, etc. Be prepared to have the Red Cross or local government designate the school as a shelter.
School Earthquake Preparedness Guide - State of
Arkansas
Arkansas Office of
Emergency Services, 1993