Emergency situations can arise any time of year. Being prepared for them will be the focus of several programs at UGA this month as it observes National Preparedness Month.
UGA’s Office of Emergency Preparedness is hosting campus events, including a forum Sept. 11 about domestic terrorism. The goal of each event is getting the university community ready for possible emergencies and making faculty, staff and students familiar with the agencies that manage emergencies in the community.
National Preparedness Month is promoted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to raise awareness about being ready for emergencies. The Office of Emergency Preparedness-which provides comprehensive emergency preparedness, homeland security programs and services to the university community-is hosting preparedness month events for a ninth year.
As part of preparedness month, the Office of Emergency Preparedness is sponsoring the following events: An Emergency Preparedness information fair Sept. 11 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Tate Student Center breezeway. Public safety vehicles from local agencies will be on display, and representatives from UGA’s Community Emergency Response Team, National EMS, the College of Pharmacy, the College of Public Health, the Amateur Radio Service and UGA American Meteorological Society also will be present. The fair is open free to the public.
The Office of Emergency Preparedness and the Center for International Trade and Security will co-host the forum “Terrorism: Soft Targets and What You Should Know.” Panelists include Kevin Harrison, an FBI bomb technician, and Jeff Roesler, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent from the Georgia Information Sharing and Analysis Center.
On Sept. 17, the Office of Emergency Preparedness will test the UGAAlert system, which provides emergency notifications on multiple platforms. That test will occur at approximately 10:45 a.m.
In advance of the test, faculty, staff and students can verify and update their notification information for the system at www.ugaalert.uga.edu.
A survey with questions about the UGAAlert test will be online after the test at www.prepare.uga.edu.
Also on Sept. 17, UGA will hold the first meeting of the Community Emergency Response Team program. CERT, which is open to faculty, staff and students, covers topics such as basic first aid, terrorism, incident command and more.
Training sessions are held Tuesdays from 2:30-5 p.m. until Nov. 5. The first meeting is at the Training and Development Center. Registration is required for CERT at www.prepare.uga.edu.
