Earthquake Friday 16/8/2013 Debrief

Earthquake Emergency 16/8/2013

Debrief

Background:

Friday 16^th 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.