Disaster Preparedness in Schools – The Benefits

No place is safe today; it can face innumerable dangers of a terrorist attacks or natural disasters. A school has a number of young children which makes it paramount that every school staff has an action plan to deal with any such eventuality.

Every school ought to have several exits leading to all the sides of each building. Should one exit be inaccessible there should be another alternative route out of the building. The standard evacuation drill for a building ought to be decided prior to an actual emergency situation. It is for this reason that evacuation drills are recommended for schools so that they can determine the time it takes to clear a building.

Evacuation is not only essential during a disaster, but also prior to it and after it. The clearing plan incorporates the following aspects:

-          Recognition of the problem location.

-          Control response of individuals.

-          Decision making.

-          Alarm.

-          Safety and movement of students.

Emergency situations requiring evacuation can vary from fire and natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, volcanic eruption and hurricane to terrorist threats such as shooting and industrial accidents. Generally, evacuation plan is normally one however there have to be multiple strategies for managing different kinds of scenarios.

The school management has to make fast decisions pertaining to the safe pathways which the students ought to take and the authorities that are to be approached for assistance. Alarms are essential in every emergency situation since they function in alerting the entire community of students at the same time. In addition, alarms can be used to alert the local police and fire brigade of what is happening in the school.

Normally when an emergency alarm is sounded, the first thing that grips students is fright and panic. It is for this reason that every school ought to have in-charges that are well-trained on crowd control. It can be difficult to control students especially during emergency scenarios. If they hear the right words and instructions from figure heads they are more likely to follow the guidelines during the emergency evacuation.

The following are some of the benefits of having a disaster preparedness plan in a school:

First and foremost, the school management will be able to account for not only the students but also its support staff which includes teachers and subordinate staff.

Secondly, in case of an emergency, the school is less likely to lose its students during the evacuation. According to a recent study, most lives are usually lost during emergency not because of the threat but because of the poor evacuation procedure.

Thirdly, an evacuation plan will enable the school get the help of the local authorities to identify the underlying threat and eliminate it in the quickest way possible.

Last but not least, evacuation procedure will ensure that individuals requiring help are able to get it in the shortest time possible.