Prepare your disaster supply kit, because the hurricane season is quickly approaching. With the hurricane season less than two months away, New Orleans residents and students are beginning to think about emergency preparations; but would you really know what to do if there was a hurricane?
Maroon staffers approached many students and asked them about their feelings on Loyola’s Hurricane Emergency Plan. Almost every student we approached had no idea what the details of the plan are.
Those who did know about it knew very little. Every Loyola student, professor and faculty member should be familiar with the Hurricane Emergency Plan. Many students are unaware that the plan is available on Loyola University’s official website (www.loyno.edu/studentaffairs/hurricane.emer.plan.html).
According to the university’s website, the Hurricane Emergency Plan outlines procedures in case there is the threat of a hurricane striking the city. The five-step plan, last revised on May 29, 2006, includes stages detailing pre-season preparation, threat assessment, cancellation of classes, university closure and aftermath.
Students are advised to enact their own personal evacuation plan, because it is preferable to waiting for mass evacuations implemented by the university. The plan has designated that teams with a wide array of members be responsible for implementing the plan. One of those members is Robert Reed, director of Residential Life. Reed is in charge of the evacuation of the campus residence halls and ensuring the safety of all students living on campus. Since many students living in the residence halls are from out of town, they should be the most informed when it comes to hurricane preparedness.
Regardless of whether you live on campus or not, you should know exactly what to do and when you should do it. We shouldn’t sit around and wait for another hurricane to hit before appropriately informing our students and faculty of the proper hurricane procedure.
To augment the suggestions found on the website, we at The Maroon offer our own. Make sure you have an available landline so that you can contact family and friends if necessary. During a hurricane, cell phones lines are busy and unreliable. Take irreplaceable objects, such as photographs, home videos and priceless mementos. If you feel like you should leave, do it immediately. Don’t second-guess your decision, and don’t leave at the last minute. Getting stuck in traffic on the interstate during a hurricane is a lot less safe than staying at your house. The most important thing to remember is to protect yourself, because you are the one thing that can never be replaced.
