A look at Emergency Preparedness on Campus By Nancy Chapman UC Berkeley's disaster team has been activated during a simulated earthquake to practice saving lives and property Carey Terry photo. The walls are lined with chalkboards and sheets of butcher paper, which Berkeley staff are rapidly annotating with chalk and colored pens.
Several people wear headphones, some sit with ham radios, cell phones, and land line telephones.
Victoria Harrison, the chief of police, barks orders to her staff. The atmosphere is dead serious and crackling with tension, like at Mission Control during Apollo 13. Instantly someone adds Evans Hall to the chalk board. Another staff person adds acetone to the butcher paper in red magic marker. Someone coughs nervously.