Tasks
The Department of Emergency Management (DEM) is a division of Public Safety, which in addition oversees the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) and the Department of Central Security (DCS).
Developing plans and resources to cope with disasters is a four-step process that begins with preparedness. In this step DEM assesses the hazards that face our community. For example, while damage resulting from an earthquake would be devastating, major earthquakes are not very likely to occur in Minnesota so time and resources are not spent on developing such plans. However, Minnesota routinely faces tornados, severe winter and summer storms, along with the ever-present risks of hazardous materials and civil unrest.
In addition, because this is a major land-grant University, crowding problems are common. On a typical day, 10 to 20 thousand people fill the streets and sidewalks of the U of M each hour. There are also thousands of fans coming to campus by car and mass transit on any given day to attend men’s and women’s intercollegiate athletic events.
The second aspect of emergency management is response. DEM is actively engaged in the various activities that result from the occurrence of a disaster. In this situation, the emergency manager works to coordinate the efforts of various agencies such as police, fire or EMS. Assuming the responsibility of coordination ensures that efforts are not duplicated or wasted. Similar to utilizing the Incident Command System (ICS) model, an emergency management staff person often fills the incident commander role within a unified command structure.
Another aspect of the response phase is the establishment of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The EOC differs from a command post because it is away from the center of activity. The EOC provides a place senior administrators to make strategic decisions face-to-face without distractions.
At the University, the EOC is protected from severe weather and has a generator in the event of power failure. In addition to office phones used during the business day, there are three Centrex lines, which continue to work if the University's central telephone system fails. There are also ten special University lines in which phones are attached only during times of emergency. We have multiple data jacks, fax and copy services, secure entrances and access to emergency medical personnel 24 hours a day.
Recovery is the third phase of emergency management. As the name implies, this is the stage in which systems come back on-line. Again, coordination is the key to a successful recovery phase, as is good resource allocation.
Mitigation activities are the final role in emergency management and involves attempts to identify (a) what went wrong and how can it be prevented from occurring again, and; (b) other potential problems that can be addressed before they develop into a problem.
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