page_title: Emergency management in American universities
section_title: Natural disasters
hierarchical_section_title: Emergency management in American universities / Natural disasters
caption_attribution_description: English: New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: Damaged Louisiana Technical College building, formerly flooded section of Upper 9th Ward
context_page_description: In Emergency Management, higher learning institutions must frequently adapt broad, varied policies to deal with the unique scope of disasters that can occur in on-campus settings. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and wildfires are among some of the most common natural disasters that possess the capacity for large losses of life and property, with the potential to effectively destroy a university community. Man-made crises also can pose a serious threat to life and property, as was evident in the case of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. In order to preemptively reduce or prevent the severity of emergency situations, universities must coordinate and implement policies to effectively eliminate unnecessary risks' and decrease potential losses.
  Each emergency situation is unique and requires four steps, after an emergency has taken place at a university. Universities, such as East Carolina University, has four different steps when approaching emergency situations. These steps are known as preparedness/mitigation, response, and recovery.
context_section_description: In addition to the devastating economic toll, natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, coastal flooding, inland flooding, and tornadoes, damage colleges and universities around the United States and also disrupt campus academics and student life. Natural Disasters occur all over the world and are a result of the earth's natural hazards. Several of these disasters have happened on or very close to American colleges and universities and have caused panic and severe destruction. Depending on the severity of the disaster, some universities recover quickly while others are forced to shut down operations for an extended period of time. Although natural disasters can have varying effects on university campuses and the surrounding area, the important part is how universities prepare and respond to disasters. The success or failure of how disaster management is addressed by campus officials can have a major impact on future preparedness and response efforts for that university and set examples or standards for other schools.
caption: Damaged Louisiana Technical College building, formerly flooded section of Upper 9th Ward
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