Category Archives: Preparedness

Emergency, Preparedness

Emergency Preparedness at Home – Do 1 Thing – Water (February)

Last month, NOVA’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) introduced you to Do 1 Thing – a web-based, 12-month preparedness program that makes preparing easier by helping people take small steps each month toward becoming better prepared for emergencies or disasters. January’s topic was Make a Plan and it challenged you to think ahead of what you and your family would do during a disaster.

February’s topic is one that can easily be overlooked, but is one you can’t survive long without – Water.

THE GOAL: Have enough water on-hand for your family to last 3 days (72 hours). This should be about 3 gallons per person.
Choose one of these things to do to be ready for an emergency:
1. Buy 3 days of water at the store.
2. Bottle a 3 day supply of water at home.
3. Learn how to provide a safe supply of drinking water for your household in a disaster.

Each month on this blog, OEM will post Do 1 Thing’s monthly topic and we encourage you to follow the program at http://do1thing.com.

Emergency, Preparedness

Emergency Preparaedness at Home – Do 1 Thing – Make a Plan (January)

NOVA’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) wants you to be better prepared for emergencies and disasters. Emergency preparedness at home is a big job, and many people never get started because they don’t know where to begin.

To help get you started, OEM challenges you to follow ‘Do 1 Thing’ (http://do1thing.com) each month in 2015. Do 1 Thing is a web-based, 12-month preparedness program that makes preparing easier by helping people take small steps each month toward becoming better prepared for emergencies or disasters.

It’s as easy as this:

  1. Click on the current month’s topic.
  2. Select one of the easy “things to do.”
  3. Do that one thing!

If you follow along for an entire year, you will be better prepared to handle most disasters and emergencies. You can jump in anytime and you don’t have to do things in any order (all 12 things are in the little yellow box on the left). You can choose whatever topic you like.

Each month on this blog, OEM will post Do 1 Thing’s monthly topic and we encourage you to follow the program. January’s topic is: Make a Plan.

If you would like additional information about how to make a plan, you can also visit:

http://www.vaemergency.gov/readyvirginia/makeaplan

 

 

Drills, Preparedness, Training

NOVA will take part in the Great SouthEast ShakeOut Regional Earthquake Drill on 10/16

On Thursday, October 16th at 10:16 AM, NOVA will participate in The Great SouthEast ShakeOut Regional Earthquake Drill.

What do I do?

An announcement will be made on the campuses and off-site locations at 10:16 AM using the intercom telephone system to start the drill.  Once the announcement is made, you should DROP, COVER, and HOLD ON!

The Timeline will be as follows:

10:16   An announcement will be made that the drill is starting. “This is the start of the Regional Earthquake drill, please drop, cover, and hold on!”  At this time, you should drop to the ground, take cover under a table or sturdy desk, and hold on to it until the shaking stops.

10:21   An announcement will be made that the earthquake is over.  “The earthquake is over, please evacuate your buildings.”  At this time, evacuate the building and report to your assembly point.  *Persons with disabilities should seek assistance in evacuations.

10:35   No announcement will be made, but the drill has officially concluded.  You should re-enter your building and go back to your office or continue class as scheduled.

Note* Mobility Challenged Individuals are encouraged to do the following:

If you are in a wheelchair: Lock your wheels and remain seated until the shaking stops.  Always protect your head and neck with your arms, a pillow, book, or whatever may be available.

  • Practice your individual emergency evacuation plan during the evacuation phase of this drill.
  • Relocate to an Area of Assistance (if you are on a floor that does not exit directly outdoors) and wait there until the drill is complete.
  • Please refer to the Emergency Action Plan for more information
Drills, Preparedness

Emergency Notification Systems Test scheduled for 10/10

The College has scheduled a test of the Emergency Notification Systems for this Friday, October 10th beginning at 9:30 am for the campuses and off-site centers.  The systems that we will be testing are listed below.

 •              NOVA desktop computer alerts (pop-up messages for networked computers only)

•              Digital signage (flat panels)

•              Automated and live broadcasts to all College phones

 The message that you will either hear or see will be, “This is a test of the NOVA Emergency Notification System. This is only a Test.”

  *Please note that the NOVA Alert text messaging system will NOT  be tested at this time, so you should NOT receive a “Test” message on October 10th  if you are registered on the NOVA Alert text messaging system.

Preparedness, Training

OEM’s first Preparedness Festival was a huge success

If you were at the Annandale campus on September 24th or the Loudoun campus on the 25th, you probably thought you were seeing things.  Maybe you even thought a few students were dressing up a little early for Halloween.  Rest assured, your eyes were not deceiving you – the zombies invaded those campuses as part of OEM’s Preparedness Festival.  September is National Preparedness Month and OEM used the zombies to help bring attention to the need for preparation. 

If you missed out on all the action or are a student/faculty/staff at another campus and want to see the news coverage of what took place, click here.  You can also take a look at pictures of the events on NOVA’s Facebook page, You Tube site, or Twitter account. 

Remember, OEM wants you to be prepared for an emergency.  You can find out more on how to prepare an emergency kit at Virginia’s Department of Emergency Management website or at FEMA’s website.