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News

UH improves response plan

Since Hurricane Rita, Emergency Management Team works to improve campus evacuation

Cougar News Services 

Summer-like temperatures mean hurricane season is approaching and UH officials said they're taking steps to improve the University's emergency response plan.

Vice President for Administration and Finance John Rudley chairs the Emergency Management Team.

"Over the past few months, the Emergency Management Team has been working hard to improve the emergency management plan based on what we learned last fall from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Our revised plan will be finished before the next hurricane season begins in June," Rudley said in a release.

Improvements to emergency response plan in place during Hurricane Rita include a new evacuation process for students living on campus and the creation of a Web-based communication system.

"We are working on determining an evacuation strategy for students who call our campus home," Bob Schneller, executive director of safety and risk management, said. "We also learned during Hurricane Rita and Tropical Storm Allison that some people were on campus who shouldn't have been. So we're developing a list of ride-out team members and creating identification badges for them."

Emergency generators and structural upgrades may be added to buildings where staff members are required to stay through the course of a storm. 

The University has already made agreements with fuel providers outside Houston to supply fuel during an emergency situation.

Sam Longoria, service continuity manager for information technology, said the University is looking for an off-campus location to house IT operations during a hurricane.

Implementation of the Public Information and Emergency Response project assists IT officials with disseminating information to students, faculty and staff via e-mail. 

The Emergency Management Team also deals with health-related emergencies, including flu epidemics. 
 

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