Never an Emergency Until It Is: GFU and Disaster Preparedness

Reported By: Sophia Lumsdaine

Illustrated By: Addie Patterson

Listed next to laundry supplies, linens, and dorm decorations on the “What to Bring to Campus” section of the George Fox University (GFU) website, is a 72-hour emergency preparedness kit. According to the university, each student should have various survival, food, shelter, hygiene, and medical supplies that would make them mostly self-sufficient in an emergency for up to three days.  

Ed Gierok, who has worked at GFU for 23 years, oversees public safety procedures at GFU– which includes emergency protocol and preparedness. He is part of a larger GFU emergency management team that meets monthly to strategize about the university’s emergency response plan. The plan outlines potential hazards and threats that could impact the Newberg region. The team is comprised of representatives from various sectors of the university, including Residence Life, Plant Services, Student Life, Academic Affairs, and the President’s executive team.

As stated on the GFU website, the purpose of having and actively reviewing such a plan is to “ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the safety and security of those associated with George Fox University in the event of an emergency.” The “emergency scenarios” listed on the website range from a “civil protest” to “biological terrorism.” However, Gierok highlighted earthquakes, wildfires, active shooter situations, and any scenario where the electric grid was shut off for an extended time as particularly key emergencies to consider. The scale of these emergencies could be “localized” or “major [and] regional,” Gierok said.

GFU does not conduct university-wide active shooter drills, but Gierok said that he assists individual departments in conducting smaller-scale shooter drills. He also tries to conduct between three and four shooter drills during the summer when there are fewer people on campus. Organizing a shooter drill with the full student and staff population on campus is “a huge task” and would require full buy-in across campus, as well as the involvement of outside organizations. Such a campus-wide shooter drill during the school year would entail “several months of planning,” Gierok said.

In the event of a natural disaster or significant grid failure, students would likely be evacuated from GFU grounds, Gierok said. The university “would not be able to sustain 1,200 students [on campus] with no power for long periods of time,” he explained. This is part of the importance of individual emergency kits, according to Gierok. These kits fall into two categories: a small  “grab n’ go” bag with a modest quantity of food and water, and a more extensive 72-hour bag with survival supplies that would be useful in a broad range of situations. 

Gierok has made various attempts to offer emergency preparedness education and training opportunities for students on campus but has received very little feedback or interest. Gierok also emphasized that emergency preparedness trainings are offered by County Emergency Management Teams (CERT) for free. 

“Everybody can get complacent,” Gierok said. He later acknowledged that students are understandably very busy with coursework, extracurricular activities, and jobs. For many students, going to a two-hour training on how to build a bomb shelter is not a priority amidst an intensive college schedule. When the possibility of an emergency does not seem pressing, students are not likely to engage with disaster preparedness, he explained. “The only time when people are interested is when [an emergency] does happen,” Gierok said. “Unfortunately, that’s the truth.”