Written by Amanda Toye
Harding University’s annual disaster drill is set to take place Wednesday, April 16. This drill is put on by Public Safety with the support of the Searcy Police Department, school of nursing, theater and communications department. By working together, the goal is for every person involved to leave feeling safe and prepared for any circumstance that might be threatening.
Professor Noah Darnell is directing the media-side of the disaster drill.
“[The disaster drill] is to make sure that the university is prepared for anything that comes about.” Darnell said.
“This specific one also the university and Public Safety and all that has asked HU-16 and The Bison–student media, to kind of be a, not a foil, but kind of like be really pushing them for information, just like the real press would be.” Darnell said.
The goal is for everyone involved to understand when and to whom information should be given to, especially when it comes to releasing information to the public, should an actual disaster occur.
Sophomore Hailey Stevens will be participating in the disaster drill as an HU-16 news anchor.
“They’re testing the response time and how they will respond to it.” Stevens said.
“This year, they want to include the media in it and the media’s response to it. There will be cameras and news people there to see how they should control that situation with the media.” Stevens said.
The public safety office is excited to be able to work alongside students to practice a response to supposed disasters.
Mr. Craig Russell, the public safety director at Harding, oversees the entire public safety department.
“We’ve been doing community wide disaster drills all the way back since 2001.” Russell said.
“We’ve done it every year with on exception, we missed one year for covid. Other than that, we’ve had this drill every year for more than twenty years now.” Russell said.
“We use this drill, really, as a way to kind of connect with others in the community. Especially local fire and police and emergency operations folks, our local EMS. So, a lot of folks in the community where we might occasionally talk to each other, but we don’t get a chance to actually practice with each other. This gives us the opportunity to do that.” Russell said.
By including students in the drill and interacting with various first responders in the community, Russell sees this as a way to connect with students and the community while also educating people and practicing together in case the worst-case scenario ever happens.
“Public safety, we’re not in the classroom all the time. But this is one of those cases where we kind of take the class out of the classroom and put it closer to real life.” Russell said.
