A University of Wisconsin group working to develop a campus-wide plan to react to possible disasters held an open house on Tuesday aimed at gathering students’ ideas and feedback on the plan.

Members of the committee are working to get their mitigation plan approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after receiving a grant for the plan a little over a year ago. Disaster Resistant University Project Manager Tom McClintock said the committee is made up of members of the UW Hospital and Clinics, as well as the Arboretum.

Prior to the open house, the planning committee devised goals and objectives and discussed its progress on the project. One idea in progress is developing a mass communication system where Madison residents would receive a text should there be some sort of disaster taking place.

The committee is continuing to work with these plans to develop “the brick and mortar” of the entire plan, according to committee member John Buechler. He said disasters are likely going to happen in the future, and this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

“It’s not if a disaster happens, it’s a matter of when,” Buechler said. “More and more universities are getting hit, from [being in] hazardous areas and lack of attention.”

Once the committee’s plan is in place, university officials and FEMA must approve its provisions. After approval, the university would be eligible for funding to put the plan into action.

“It’s a fairly new program and not something easily done in a university of this magnitude,” Principal Investigator Stephen Ventura said. 

Thus far, the only school in Wisconsin with a mitigation plan is the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, which finished the implementation of its plan in 2008.

In hopes of getting to that point, the committee planning team created a process involving four steps: hazard identification, risk assessment, mitigation strategies and FEMA plan approval. So far DRU is in the planning process for the third step – creating mitigation strategies.

As for the first and second steps, the planning team has identified the most prominent hazards that could occur in the campus area. The hazards fall under the three categories of natural hazards, technological hazards and political hazards.

The most likely disasters to possibly occur consist of severe winter storms, excessive heat and flooding, but do not exclude structure fire and building collapse, political hazards or civil disturbance, according to committee members at the meeting. By determining these hazards, McClintock and the team were able to simulate potential scenarios with corresponding responses.

“We try to recreate historical events. We try to create a worst case scenario,” McClintock said.

At the meeting, McClintock described one simulation which displayed all of the areas that would be affected should a chemical spill occur and infect the streets of Madison.

Flash floods on the UW campus in 2006 and 2009 caused damage to the university valued in the millions, and McClintock said he believed developing a mitigation plan for UW is more than necessary.

Committee member Dan Martin also added that for every dollar put into preparation in disaster mitigation, four are saved in damage.

Looking forward, the committee aims to finalize its plan for FEMA and UW approval before putting it to action.