Earthquake Emergency 16/8/2013
Debrief
Background:
Friday 16th August was a
swimming day. At 2.31pm when the earthquake struck, Harakeke students were in
maths sessions with teachers in the Harakeke Hub and Koru students were at
Khandallah School for swimming. Half the students were getting changed
following their swimming lesson and half the students were in the playground
having finished their lessons earlier. No senior leaders were on the school
site as Lesley was at a conference in Melbourne and Urs was completing a
project off site. Angela (Associate Principal) was at swimming with students.
What happened when the earthquake struck?
At school:
· In Harakeke Hub teachers told students to drop, cover and hold.
All children and teachers did and stayed in the turtle position for about 2
minutes.
· School band students were with Naomi in Kakariki. Demelza went down to Kakariki to check earthquake
drill procedures were being followed. Students and Naomi were already in drop,
cover and hold position. Demelza went into the drop, cover, hold position.
· Gail went under her desk.
· When teachers felt it was safe, students were allowed to sit up.
· Matt went immediately to the office to check in with Gail.
He did a check around the buildings and outside, as per the school’s
emergency procedures, and gave the all clear to everyone to evacuate buildings
following the school’s evacuation procedures.
· Teachers grabbed the Emergency Grab Bags and absentee lists from
the wall and met at designated meeting places. School band students taken to
netball courts rather than to the Harakeke Hub meeting place.
· Rolls taken. All students accounted for.
· Harakeke students walked to courts to await the all clear.
· Check of buildings made and Gail rang the bell for the all clear
and students went back inside.
Koru Hub at swimming:
· Angela’s group were getting dressed in the changing rooms and
students and teachers didn't feel/barely felt the earthquake. Not
realising what had happened, they carried on getting dressed.
· Lisa and Mike's groups were outside on the playground. They felt
the earthquake. Lisa called out 'turtle'. Students got into position and
stayed in position for about 2 minutes.
· All children gathered at our school’s pre-determined meeting
point at Khandallah School and the roll was taken.
· All students hopped on the bus and headed back to school.
On arrival children were taken into Koru Hub and released as parents came
to pick them up.
· Harakeke Hub children were released to parents. Four parents of
children who were supposed to walk home were phoned. All came to get their
children.
After event:
· Debrief with staff.
· Board member, John Bunting, came down to school to check for
damage.
Things that went well:
- In the absence of senior leaders, all staff
quickly assigned roles and responded appropriately and effectively.
- Children were all quick to get into the turtle
position and stayed there until further instructions were given.
- Children were really calm and composed during
the earthquake.
- Emergency procedures were effectively followed
by groups offsite as well as onsite.
- The significant number of practices held since
the beginning of this term was clearly effective in assisting this - children
knew exactly what to do without too much thinking.
- The staff had responded appropriately to the
holiday earthquake by focusing on improvements to their emergency
procedures in the three weeks prior to the major earthquake emergency. For
example:
i.
Earthquake emergency preparedness
sessions had been held with teachers
ii.
Emergency procedures were talked
through and updated
iii.
Although emergency supplies were not
needed in this earthquake, food/drink supplies had just been restocked and
updated and emergency blankets purchased. Emergency Grab bags had been checked
and student rolls updated.
iv.
A significant number of emergency drills
had been carried out.
·
The safety and care of children during
the earthquake was paramount and assured.
·
Quick response by BOT member who
checked the school.
Things for consideration:
- Part-time staff had not necessarily been
involved in the practices or preparedness sessions and therefore were not
as familiar with the emergency procedures as the other staff.
- After the earthquake, nervousness affected the
children and they became quite noisy which made it hard for teachers to do
the roll and account for all children quickly.
- There was some movement to evacuate before
the all clear signal was given. The bell (or verbal signal, if power is
down) signals that a thorough check has been completed and it is safe to
evacuate - all students and teachers needed to stay inside until that
point.
- When walking to the netball courts during the
evacuation, Harakeke students walked along the pathway by Koru Hub
building. After shocks were still happening and they would have been at
risk if there had been falling debris.
- Off site, teachers accessed the roll on their
phones. What if the internet was down?
- The buildings
were checked for damage and students went back into the buildings quite
soon after all students had been accounted for. When is it safe to go back
into buildings after an earthquake?
- Many parents phoned school. This overloaded
the phone system and distracted staff from their focus on the safety and
wellbeing of children.
- There was insufficient communication between
teachers at the different sites. Angela remained unaware for too long that
a significant event had taken place.
- Once the safety of all children was ascertained,
no communication was sent out to parents to assure them that their
children were safe.
- The manual bell is not adequate in an
emergency for signalling an earthquake evacuation.
- Confusion about whether children should walk
home or not.
Discussion
We took the holiday earthquake as a serious
reminder that we could be involved in a real emergency and so began increased
earthquake drills and emergency preparedness. Friday’s earthquake provided a
perfect real-life opportunity to carry out our emergency procedures and now to
review them further. It was especially useful that this relatively “safe”
emergency took place on a day when things were not quite as usual - no senior
leaders on site, half the school off site and in two slightly different
locations. In general, it all went really well and we can be assured that
teachers are well able to take the leadership role in an emergency and carry
out procedures that ensure the safety of students whether they are onsite or
off. However, it also alerted us to the
range of situations the school might find itself in when an earthquake/emergency
strikes, rather than just being all onsite together; and of the need to develop
a range of procedures to enable us to deal effectively in these various
permutations. The more we have talked about possible scenarios, the more complexities
we have discovered.
The area of communication was the most
problematic area. Firstly, having done a practice bulk text test earlier in the
week, the school failed to send out a text assuring parents that all was well. This
has been included as a very clear step in our emergency procedures. Secondly, the
number of parents phoning the school caused a problem for staff and overloaded
the phone system. We will be communicating with parents that they must not
phone in an emergency. For essential messages, texting is the appropriate way
to communicate because staff will be able to get to the texts when they have
accounted for all students and assured their safety and well-being. Thirdly,
while the onsite and offsite groups responded appropriately to the earthquake,
there was insufficient communication between the different school groups
following the earthquake. We have set up a protocol in which each group texts
all other onsite or offsite groups and senior leaders when all students are
safe and accounted for. Once this information is received, the bulk text will
be sent out to parents.
Of course, the major communication
issue is that in a severe emergency, communication lines are likely to be down.
In this circumstance, all children will be kept at school. Parents will need to
pick up their children as soon as they are able. But parents can be assured that
teachers will stay with the children at school for as long as it takes for the
last child to be picked up. No children will be allowed to walk home. With
offsite groups, we have realised that teachers rely on access to rolls on their
phones. All groups going offsite are now required to take an absentee list and
a paper roll (along with the first aid kit that they always take) just in case
the internet is down.
A major discussion has centred on the question
of when it is safe to go back inside the building after an emergency evacuation
in an earthquake because aftershocks are likely to be continuing and, perhaps,
the big one has not yet struck? Our conclusion is that, in general, in an
earthquake emergency, it is best to remain outside until all students are picked
up. However, until information starts coming in, initially it can be quite
difficult to tell how severe an earthquake is. For example, on Friday a number
of schools did not feel it necessary to do an emergency evacuation at all. Our
three different onsite and offsite groups each experienced the earthquake
differently. One group did not feel it at all. The other two did and felt the
need to do an emergency evacuation. In
general, we will err on the side of caution and this might mean that parents
are asked to pick up their children when, in the final analysis, there might
have been no real need to.
It is encouraging that teachers
automatically took on leadership roles with no senior leaders on the school
site. This will inevitably happen from time to time. However, to assist with
this possibility, prompt cards are being developed to outline different roles
in an emergency. These cards will be passed out in an emergency to ensure all
jobs are being covered when key people are not present. However, in the short-term,
while the likelihood of another biggish earthquake is still quite high, the
school will try to ensure there is always a senior leader on site.
Our thinking this week has made us
realise that our emergency preparedness has focused on situations in which
children end up being all safe and accounted for. Once we have tidied up the
things that have arisen as a result of this emergency, we need to begin to
think about some worse case scenarios and ensure that we are prepared for a
severe emergency which may involve serious casualties or even death.
Major Action Items
Whenever going offsite, staff must take
a paper copy of the roll and absences and not rely on phones for access.
Develop procedures to ensure effective
communication with parents, by parents with the school, and between school
groups.
Continue to carry out regular
earthquake emergency practices, but vary the scenarios and the situations
(including when people are offsite).
Ensure all part-time staff are kept up
to date with emergency preparedness.
If we do not have another significant
earthquake in the near future, carry out a full emergency evacuation to really
test the newly developed protocols and procedures.
Review procedures for a worst case
scenario – serious casualties and death.
Work with Bellminder to provide the
emergency evacuation bell that we need.
Develop very clear, concise emergency
prompt cards which will be placed in Emergency Grab Bags. These will provide a
quick reminder to staff of all tasks that need to be done and ensure that they
are completed even when key staff are offsite.
Clearly communicate with parents the
procedures and expectations in an emergency.
Continue to review and clarify
procedures as new information or scenarios emerge.
Purchase two hard hats to be used when
checking the building.
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