We did not get transported to the land of Oz, but a simulated tornado did hit campus last week for Harding’s disaster drill.
The disaster drill is put together by Harding’s Emergency Planning Committee. It is a simulation of a catastrophe in order to prepare Harding’s staff, faculty and student body in the event of an actual emergency. The event involves months of planning but is kept quiet so it better emulates a real disaster.
This year, the scenario was a tornado hitting the Lee building. The school assessed emergency response times, reactions to power outages and its emergency alert system. The alert system sent notifications via emails, telephone calls and text messages. It is functional even in the event of a power outage and is available to all students who opt in through their Pipeline account.
David Crouch, member of the Emergency Planning Committee and director of Public Relations, briefly explained the history of the disaster drill.
“The disaster drill is an annual event,” Crouch said. “We’ve simulated fires, tornados, bombs and active shooters.”
Part of Crouch’s job is managing the messages Harding sends out in the event of a crisis and ensuring that no misleading information is released. With the advent of social media in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to control what is said in the event of a crisis. One way Crouch said he combats this is to beat everyone to the punch.
“You want to get your story out before someone else gets your story out,” Crouch said.
Lynn McCarty, also a member of the Emergency Planning Committee and the director of Health Services at Harding, said he believes assisting in emergencies is not just her job, but an obligation to her community.
“Part of being in a community is being a good neighbor,” McCarty said. “That’s not written in any of our job descriptions, it’s just a responsibility of being part of this family.”
The implementation of the disaster drill involves constant communication throughout the year with local emergency teams.
“If you don’t have communication, it’s very hard to get cooperation,” McCarty said. “We have to be aware that in the event of a big emergency, it would take all our help.”
