I was asked by one of our key distribution partners, School Health, to write a blog post on School Emergency Preparedness. I hope you find it informative.
Growing up overseas in the Philippines and Australia, sometimes gives me a bit of a unique perspective on disaster preparedness. I was born just outside of Philadelphia, but I lived with my family in the Philippines for seven years. Part of this time was during the years of Ferdinand Marcos and martial law.
Prior to the implementation of martial law there was a great degree of violence in Manila. As I attended an International School, our school was frequently the target of bomb threats (though the only one that ever went off was crafted by a delinquent high school student and luckily did not injure anyone). With these bomb threat came "bomb drills". Up to that time we had only ever experienced fire drills.
Interesting enough bomb drills looked a lot like fire drills, but they carried a much more ominous feeling. We came to know that every time the alarm bell went off and we filed out into the soccer field unexpectedly someone had phoned in a bomb threat to the school. For a while this happened quite frequently. This is where I began to understand that each school faces its own threats according to its location and circumstances (certainly schools in many other areas of the world weren't having bomb drills at the time - today, these are more common). This means that each school needs to practice for each kind of emergency or disaster that is relevant to its particular circumstances.
There are some basics that various disasters have in common that allow for schools to reduce the number of kinds of drills they need to practice. The three basic types of drills are evacuation (for example in case of a fire), lockdown (as in the case of violent events), and shelter/protection (as a response to events such as a tornado or earthquake). Each school should practice these three kinds of drills as they apply to their specific situation and likely emergency scenarios.
Most schools have very little in the way of supplies. Thankfully in the last several years we have seen many school administrators take steps to provide the supplies necessary to respond to these various scenarios.
Many schools have now purchased classroom emergency kits for each of their instructional areas and medical and other emergency supplies for their whole school.
As we work to help make "Every Life Secure", we encourage school administrators to:
1) Plan and practice for the most likely emergency and disaster scenarios using the three types of drills: evacuation, lockdown, and shelter/protection.
2) Ensure that they have adequate supplies to meet the needs of their students and staff in case of a severe disaster.
We can help you determine what supplies you need. Simply contact us at [email protected] or 877-877-5522.
Every Life Secure - 490,000 lives secured and counting.