January 6, 2005
UW first university chosen for emergency training
The UW is the first higher education institution in the country to be chosen for participation in a prestigious emergency management training course offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Next August, about 70 UW employees from a range of units will spend a week at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Md. They will participate in a real-time simulation of a major disaster — a great earthquake — with the guidance of FEMA’s experts. There is no cost to the UW for the training exercise. The value of the training is estimated at $60,000 to $80,000.
“This is a nationally competitive opportunity,” says Steve Charvat, UW’s director of emergency management. “Our proposal first had to be approved by the state and then by FEMA officers from this region, before it was submitted to national competition. Just 10 organizations participate each year in this training, and for the past 20 years all those organizations have been cities or other municipalities.”
The value of this training cannot be overstated, Charvat says. Several months before the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building, personnel from Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County participated in a FEMA exercise, and their quick, effective response to the disaster was attributed to what they had learned.
Although UW employees will constitute the core of those attending, selected representatives from the city, county, private sector and volunteer organizations will participate, in order to explore issues of cooperation and resource sharing. FEMA officials will be visiting the UW and will develop an emergency scenario based specifically on issues that could arise here. The real-time earthquake simulation will occupy three full days of the training, with a day of orientation and discussion, as well as a day of debriefing.
UW participants will include students as well as staff and faculty; personnel from UW Bothell and UW Tacoma also will attend.
Charvat expects the UW participants to learn a great deal about how to respond in an emergency. The purpose of the exercise, he points out, is not to get everything perfect but to identify areas of improvement. “Having our performance evaluated by a third party, by FEMA personnel, will provide a huge boost to our emergency management,” he says. “Spending a week at the training academy will help to bring us together as a team, so that we can function effectively should an emergency occur.”
