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The primary role of the University of Minnesota's Department of
Emergency Management is to develop plans and resources to enable
the University's four campuses to cope with disasters.
Tasks
Planning
Resources
Tasks
The Department of Emergency Management (DEM) is a division of Public
Safety, which oversees the University of Minnesota Police Department
(UMPD), the Department of Central Security, and the DEM itself.
Developing plans and resources to cope with disasters is a four-step
process that begins with preparedness. In this step the 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 we don't spend much time or
money developing plans or resources for them. We do, however, routinely
face tornados, severe winter and summer storms, and the ever-present
risks of hazardous materials and civil unrest.
In addition, because we are a major land-grant University, we routinely
have crowding problems - on a typical day, ten to twenty thousand
people fill our streets and sidewalks every hour. We also host Big
10 men's and women's intercollegiate athletics, with thousands of
fans coming to campus by car and by mass transit.
The second aspect of emergency management is response. During this
phase, we are 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. We
do not perform the job of the police, fire department, or EMS, rather
we attempt to ensure that their efforts are not duplicated or wasted.
Similar to 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 in that it is away from the center of activity. The EOC provides
a place for the various decision makers to plan their strategy face-to-face
without distractions.
At the University, the EOC is protected from severe weather and has a generator in case 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
phone system fails. There are also ten special University lines
to 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 on site.
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 key, as is good resource allocation.
Finally, mitigation activities are part of Emergency Management's
role. This phase 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.
Planning
The DEM tasks are cyclical, not linear; after we respond, we immediately
start thinking about how to recover and get back up and running.
During the recovery, we analyze what caused the disaster and take
steps to mitigate those problems.
For problems that cannot be easily fixed, we readjust our planning
to be better prepared next time. This in turn eases the next response.
This is, of course, a simplistic overview of the University of Minnesota's
Department of Emergency Management. For further information, you
can contact us by phone, mail or e-mail.
Resources
The Department of Emergency Management has many resources available
to it. Internally, we operate the University's Ambulance Service,
which gives us a cadre of highly trained volunteers to assist us
in the event of any emergency situation.
We are a sister department to the University Police and to the Department
of Central Security. We provide training to these departments as
well as emergency medical equipment.
Additionally, we work closely with the state of Minnesota's Division
of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Visit our Links
page to access these and other emergency management resources.
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