Ensuring safety on campus
It is a responsibility of universities
and institutions
Is your university

ready to protect the lives of students,
staff, and faculty as well as various
institutional assets and to provide
necessary support to local
governments and communities incase of emergencies?

Leadershipis indispensable during emergencies to makecritical and prompt policy decisions, often with limited
information. Having emergency plans in place, along withstaff and leadership who have trained and exercised on thoseplans, can assist the decision making process to identify whatneeds to be done for immediate response and recovery.
Natural disasters are also a major part of emergencies andserious concern in many countries. There are common
procedures and tools even among different types of
emergencies such as natural disasters, pandemics and
The keys to ensuring safety on
human-made disasters. This focuses specifically on
campus in case of emergencies
natural disaster preparedness as part of an
1.Establish an incident command system foroverall campus emergency
emergencies. Individuals should be trained on
preparedness strategy.
their roles during emergencies with clear linesof authority.
2.Activate an emergency operations center ordisaster countermeasure office which can be atemporary structure that will allow trained staff
and leadership to come together in one location
to facilitate decision making and manage
resources.
3.Develop an emergency management plan withkey stakeholders from the university. Traineveryone on the plan.
4.Conduct regular exercises, drills, andsimulations to train on and test the plan anddetermine its effectiveness.

In order to materialize the above
key elements, a certain amount ofinvestment by universities is crucial
1.Commitment from university leadership andinclusion of any legal authorities governing
emergency management
2.Adequate funding to develop plans, purchase
emergency equipment, and hire dedicated staff
3.A dedicated emergency operations center staffedwith appropriate staff who have been trained.
4.Training exercises with staff and leadership
5.Mutual aid partnership with local
entities outside of the university

Disastermanagement plan
The plan is the foundation of all the key elements. It should help your university prepare for andsurvive an emergency situation. It has to be developed based on capacity, vulnerability and needassessment and clearly identify what needs to be done in each disaster management stage.
Before a disaster/preparation: a guideline on how to protect assets and hazardous materials, aconfirmation system to account for students, faculty and staff. What to do if communication systems
fail or lifelines such as electricity and water fail. Establish an emergency
countermeasure/response/management office. Conduct simulation exercises, evacuation drills, etc.
to test the plan.
During a disaster/response: activating an incident command system or an emergency management
center to disseminate accurate information and receive information in a centralized location.
Immediately following the disaster, conduct damage and need assessments, safety confirmation ofstudents, staff and faculty, and identification of immediate needs and actions.
After a disaster/recovery: reconstruction of damaged buildings and infrastructure, identification oflonger–term assistance such as psychosocial care, provision of a special grant, etc.
Useful links for an emergency management and response plan:
By Florida International University (FIU): http://dem.fiu.edu/_assets/docs/FIU%20CEMP%202015.pdf
By the University of Sydney: http://sydney.edu.au/dam/corporate/documents/campus-life/emergencies-and-personal-safety/University-of-Sydney-Emergency-Response-Plan.pdf

Other useful links:
Office of Safety Health and Environment at National University of Singapore: http://nus.edu.sg/osh/index.html
APRU-IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Campus Safety Program: http://aprumh.irides.tohoku.ac.jp/activities/campus-safety

Collaboration with localorganizations and communities
Universities are tasked ultimately to contributebroadly to society. It is important for universities
to work together with local organizations andcommunities in case of emergencies as a part ofthe community. It will be possible by having
discussions in advance on their possible
partnership for disaster management, integrating auniversity emergency management plan with local
and regional plans, as well as conducting joint
response/recovery activities providing volunteers
and technical experts.
CONTACTAPRU Multi-Hazards Program Hub
Address: IRIDeS, Tohoku University 468-1 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-0845 Japan
Phone: +81227522094 Email: iridesliaison@gmail.com
APRU MH Program URL: http://aprumh.irides.tohoku.ac.jp/

APRU is a network of 45 universities in 17 countries
in the Pacific Rim (www.apru.org). The APRU andthe APRU Multi-Hazards Program(www.aprumh.irides.tohoku.ac.jp/) intend to play a
key role in promoting and advocating for necessary
initiatives for disaster management at the university
level. The APRU Multi-Hazards Campus Safety
Working Group consists of the representatives of thefollowing universities: Chulalongkorn University,
Florida International University, National
University of Singapore, Osaka University,
Tohoku University, the University of Sydney, andUniversity of Philippines.