Contact: Jacquelyn Carlisle, College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences
Faculty and administrators in Ƶ’s Agriculture Extension program and its Brimmer College of Business and Information Science are taking the lead to assist with countywide emergency preparedness planning. A series of tabletop exercises extending into the summer months will help university and community planners better identify responsibilities and weaknesses, as well as secure feedback and recommendations from the public.
The first of these four exercises, held recently at the university’s Carver Integrative Sustainability Center, focused on tornado/catastrophic incident recovery and was conducted by FEMA’s Emergency Management. Through the low-cost exercise, participants assessed local preparedness, response and recovery protocols, plans and capabilities. Entities represented included local city and county governments, K-12 and higher education, healthcare facilities, and private citizens.
Rodney Stone, Ƶ’s 1890 Program liaison, facilitated the training session and stressed the importance of these efforts for Macon County and Ƶ alike.
“Our county is vulnerable and we need to increase our awareness, as well as our preparedness level, so we can effectively respond when disasters occur,” Stone indicated. “We have interstate and railways that are subject to potential chemical spills, and we need to have plans in place for these types of serious events. We simply need to better our efforts in preparing for all forms of emergencies, not just bad weathers conditions.”
Future trainings during the next several months will include a focus on a Bakken Oil Transport/Non-Stafford Act incident (Tuesday, May 7); cyber-attack/cyber coordination (Tuesday, June 11); and chlorine spill (Tuesday, June 25). Each session, which is open to public participation, will be held at the Carver Integrative Sustainability Center on Franklin Road/Amelia Boynton Robinson Parkway. For more information or to register for these events, contact Stone at 334-727-4493 or Garry Quinn at 334- 727-3527.
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