Severe weather hit the IU campus hard on Thursday last week. Heavy rain flooded the roads and rivers, and a tornado warning was issued at the same time. In response to the situation, IU safety procedures kicked in. All of the computer screens on campus automatically turned into warning messages, students received notification about the emergencies through email and SMS, and faculty and staff instructed students to move to shelters.

Michael Roberts, an IU sophomore who was in Franklin Hall during the tornado warning, says he thinks that the safety procedures worked. “I think that the process of informing the students about the warning was effective. I noticed here in the computer lab that all of the computer screens had switched automatically into a warning message, and I know that a lot of people got notifications on their phones.” he said.

However, IU-Notify is not the only safeguard IU uses to protect students. Each building has an emergency action plan and emergency control committee to ensure safety during emergencies. Dan Brown, the Building Manager of Franklin Hall, says that the emergency control committee is organized with staff who will likely be in the building during emergencies. Emergency control committee members will wear yellow vests and ensure that people in the building all move to designated severe weather shelter. Brown says that they did there best to keep students safe during last Thursdays whether. “we were notified about the warning, the emergency committee moved into action, we grabbed our emergency vests and we have our phones out and we go through and hit every specified room and make sure they get to the emergency shelter areas.” he said.

As much as it is important to stay safe during emergencies, it is important to know what you need to do in emergencies, even before they happen. Locations of severe weather shelters, AEDs, and fire extinguishers can are be found on the evacuation maps on building walls. The Protect IU website provides detailed information about how to be safe during emergencies and whom you need to contact.

Ken Long, The director of IU Emergency Management and Continuity, says that the safety procedure during last Thursday’s situation was overall successful. However, because people were also receiving warnings from different institutions such as Monroe County and the city of Bloomington, Long says there might have been some confusion due to the wording difference of the instructions.

For more information visit the Protect IU website