Recently, Hurricane Matthew forced several southern universities to evacuate their entire student bodies. Although the University has never had a University-wide evacuation mandate, there are several emergency preparedness plans in place should there ever be one.
In addition to specific evacuation plans for each building, there are four other broad groups of emergency plans — hazard mitigation plans, critical incident management plans, continuity of operations plans and coordinated plans with Charlottesville and Albemarle county.
Pat Hogan, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said Critical Incident Management Plans deal with initial emergency response, while Continuity of Operations Plans concern how to resume standard operations. The Critical Incident Management Plan also brings together a team to determine any changes to the academic schedule as necessary.
Hazard mitigation plans asses the vulnerability of University buildings to potential hazards, according to the Office of Safety and Emergency Preparedness website. Similarly, the coordinated plans seek to prepare the broader Charlottesville community for emergencies.
“The City of Charlottesville/Albemarle County/University of Virginia Emergency Operations Plan provides a joint emergency response plan that combines the resources of three jurisdictions to meet any threat,” the website reads.
Fourth-year Engineering student Laura Moran, who volunteers with the Charlottesville Fire Department, and said the department prepares for essentially every time of emergency.
“We do fire-rescue, [so] we are prepared for fires, building collapse, terrorism, natural disaster, water rescue training and some EMS training,” Moran said. “We are trained on a national level … in case FEMA or another agency comes in, we have that structure in place so that we can manage larger incidents.”
In terms of evacuation, Moran said the fire departments carry out orders from those ordering the evacuations, including assisting students.
“If we were evacuating students or people in Charlottesville, we would have to have whoever is calling for that evacuation tell us what to carry out, so our station … [is] not going to make that call, but if we are told to move you guys from dorms or to block streets, we are trained to do all of that,” Moran said.
Hogan also pointed out the distinction between essential and non-essential services and employees. In the event of inclement weather, classes would be canceled and non-essential employees would not report to work.
“During these types of situations, every effort is made to maintain essential services — such as dining, gym and library access — for the many people we have living on Grounds,” Hogan said in an email statement. “It is important to note that any evacuation order would be in addition to a local order of evacuation for the city and county and would be made in collaboration with other local, state and federal agencies.”
Though there has never been a University-wide forced evacuation, individual buildings and areas have been evacuated in the past.
“U.Va. has had occasion to evacuate spaces, offices, labs, dorms, stadium and venues for different reasons done in accordance with emergency plans,” Hogan said. “In the case of a hurricane, the more likely scenario would be an agency closure and cancellation of classes, similar to an inclement weather event.”
Moran said she thought the University communicates clearly with the student population, but that more steps to prepare for the event of an emergency should occur.
“If I were a student who didn't have the emergency preparation background that I do, I think that in an emergency I would be a little lost,” Moran said. “[But] I think there is a lot of communication that comes down from the University, so if the University was proactive during an emergency, I think [unpreparedness] could be mitigated properly and result in less chaos than other situations.”
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