As responsible members of the University community, students should plan for the unexpected by creating personal emergency plans. It is a good idea to talk with your parents about what to do in the event of an emergency while at UVA. Students should be prepared to put their personal plans into action if the need arises. The University will respond quickly in an event, but you should have a plan for how to care for yourself for a brief period of time. All students should think about your alternatives if the University were forced to evacuate during a hurricane, or residence halls were closed during a pandemic. Staying with friends or relatives in another part of the country may be the best option, especially if travel abroad is restricted during a large-scale crisis.
Ready.gov has a simple template to help you record your emergency plan. http://www.ready.gov/make-a-plan
- Communications Plan - Work with your family to create a communications plan that outlines how you will contact each other.
- We ask students to contact home as soon as possible following a critical incident and advise of your status
- Identify an out-of-state contact to receive and relay messages among family members, for those times when it is not possible to communicate with family in close proximity. In emergencies it is often easier to make a long distance telephone call than a local call.
- Create a list of all important family contact information to keep in your emergency kit
- Add 'In Case of Emergency' (ICE) numbers to your cell phone, for example, ICE Mom or ICE Dad. Medical professionals often look for ICE contacts in patient cell phones. You can enter important emergency contact and health data on the emergency tab on an iPhone.
- Emergency Procedures – Knowing what to do in specific emergency situations is important. Emergency Procedures have been developed for a variety of situations. There is also an Emergency Procedures Poster that concisely outlines actions to take in response to different emergencies.