While most of us are going about our business today, about 40 University employees from about 15 units across campus will be responding to a major 鈥渆arthquake.鈥�
A 7.0 earthquake on the Seattle fault is the scenario for a disaster drill to be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day, led by the UW鈥檚 first director of emergency management, Steven Charvat.
鈥淭his is the University鈥檚 first emergency drill in more than six years,鈥� Charvat said. 鈥淲e thought it was about time that the University do a simulated disaster exercise to find out what our weaknesses are, where we鈥檝e got issues that we need to work on and to do this in a non-lethal and educational way.鈥�
April 22 was chosen for the exercise both because the state is running its annual 鈥淒rop, Cover and Hold鈥� drill for earthquake preparedness that day and because it鈥檚 Earth Day.
The drill will be a tabletop exercise, meaning there will be no actual going to buildings and pretending to treat 鈥渃asualties.鈥� Rather, those involved will go to the designated emergency operations center, where they will receive phone calls, faxes and messages brought by runners giving them information such as that bridges are out or that buildings have been damaged.
鈥淭he people in the room will have to determine how they would respond to these 鈥� where they would put priorities,鈥� Charvat said. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l never have enough money, personnel or resources to deal with everything, so you have to figure out priorities. Then you have to collect information and send it up the chain to the president, because this would be a media event in real life.鈥�
Those involved in the exercise include the usual suspects 鈥� the 91探花Police, Environmental Health and Safety, Facilities Services, and so on. But the group also includes some units not normally thought of as part of emergency response 鈥� units like Purchasing and Stores, Computing and Communications and Human Resources, for example.
The group will operate on what Charvat calls the incident command system, which involves creating four sections 鈥� operations, logistics, planning and finance/administration 鈥� each with a designated leader. Representatives from various units across campus are assigned to the sections according to their unit鈥檚 function.
The incident command system grew out of response to the wildfires in California back in the 1970s. 鈥淭here were problems because agencies had trouble talking to each other,鈥� Charvat said. 鈥淪o they developed this system which has now become a national standard for emergency response and recovery. It鈥檚 almost a military model in that it allows for quick decision making.鈥�
For some participants the drill will be more than a practice session. Students from Disaster Hazard Mitigation and Planning, a master鈥檚 level class in the Urban Design and Planning Department, were involved in developing the script for the exercise and will serve as runners during it. They鈥檒l also help with the evaluation afterward and use the whole event as a case study for their class.
Everyone involved in the exercise will do their own evaluation afterward, Charvat said. And there will be two outside observers 鈥� one representing the city and the other the county 鈥� to provide independent feedback as well.
鈥淲ithin a month we鈥檒l have a full debriefing,鈥� Charvat said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l collect the information and synthesize it and come out with some recommendations. We鈥檒l ask what we can do to improve. That鈥檚 the whole purpose for doing an exercise.鈥�
And there are more such exercises in the University鈥檚 future. Charvat said one a year is the minimum needed to maintain preparedness, and that the drills will get more complex with different scenarios each time. Eventually he鈥檇 like to hold one without warning the participants in advance.
Charvat was hired a year ago after serving as the deputy director of the District of Columbia鈥檚 Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C. Although the UW鈥檚 Emergency Management Office is new and Charvat is its first director, the University has been thinking about disaster response for some time. Four and a half years ago it was one of six universities chosen to participate in a pilot project called Disaster Resistant Universities, which was funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
鈥淭hanks to that, our emergency preparedness is much better than at other colleges and universities,鈥� Charvat said. He said the University is waiting to hear whether it will receive an additional $633,000 from FEMA, a grant that would pay for plans, training and exercises, as well as projects such as earthquake retrofitting for buildings.
Last year the campus was also given a share ($239,000) of funds received by the city of Seattle from the Department of Homeland Security. The University is using that money for detection equipment to try to protect against possible terrorism in the campus鈥� open environment. The city may give the 91探花additional monies from the same grant this year.
In addition to his work within the University, Charvat has been working to improve connections with those outside as well.
鈥淥ur office has been working very closely with city officials, regional officials, state officials as well as FEMA to build linkages 鈥� financial and practical,鈥� he said. 鈥淏efore this office was established the 91探花didn鈥檛 have a seat on the state Emergency Management Council, even though we are among the largest of the state agencies. Now we do.鈥�
And at the UW, Charvat has created a similar group, the Emergency Management Planning Committee. 鈥淭he big issue is coordination,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want any duplication of effort; we want to make sure everyone is at a certain level of preparedness and try to elevate the organization so we鈥檙e always ready for any type of disaster.鈥�
It all started with a fire drill
Steven Charvat鈥檚 career in emergency management started with a simple fire drill. He was working in the budget office in Phoenix when the opportunity came up to be the fire warden for city hall,
鈥淣obody else volunteered, so I did because I thought it would be interesting,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚 soon discovered that doing fire drills twice a year for a 20-story building was sort of fun, so I started taking some classes from FEMA, the Red Cross and so forth and discovered this was something I really enjoyed.鈥�
After coordinating the city鈥檚 financial accountability during major flooding, Charvat found himself named the city鈥檚 first emergency management director, a position he held for more than 10 years. Then, feeling bored, he took the job in DC, a city that he describes as 鈥渁lways at the center of a bullseye.鈥�
That was exciting, but Charvat said he had wanted to live in Seattle a long time and had applied for at least two other jobs here before being hired at the 91探花last May.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been quiet here since I arrived, but beware,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen I went to DC it was quiet for a year, then came the anthrax attacks, 9-11, and snipers. Well, I鈥檝e been here about a year now.鈥�