Emergency
Preparedness
Resources

UB’s All Hazards Emergency Plan

Recent emergencies on a national and local level, such as the Virginia Tech tragedy in April, 2007 and the Buffalo region “October Surprise Storm of 2006”, have underscored the importance of emergency planning for the University at Buffalo. In recent months, UB has made significant changes and improvements to our plans and planning organizational structure. The most significant change has been the rewriting of the UB “All Hazard Emergency Plan” (pdf). This document has been significantly modified to correlate with national standards for emergency planning, including the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS).

During the past year there have also been noteworthy preparations on a campus-wide basis. In May of 2006, UB was the first SUNY campus to hire a staff member exclusively devoted to facilitating campus emergency preparations. The Emergency Planning Manager is now coordinating biweekly meetings of the Emergency Oversight Committee in order to advance the emergency planning agenda. UB has also identified a diverse group of campus leaders, known as the “Extended Operations Group”, who have crucial roles in emergency planning and recovery. This group is now being assembled on a regular basis for training and to give them an opportunity to review plans and provide feedback. The members of the “Extended Operations Group” are currently being trained in ICS and NIMS and are testing with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to obtain their official certificates.