Emergency Management hosts Ready Week Sept. 10-15

Knowing what to do in case of an emergency is important. The Emergency Management Department at Washington University in St. Louis will host its first-ever Ready Week Sept. 10–15.

The goal of Ready Week is to increase emergency preparedness among the campus community and to raise awareness about the department and its training offerings. Ready Week will feature fun and interactive events as well as training courses on both the Danforth and Medical campuses throughout the week.

The main event on the Medical Campus is a lunch-and-learn session with Steve Templeton, chief meteorologist for KMOV. Templeton will be discussing St. Louis weather and preparedness tips beginning at 11:30 a.m.Wednesday, Sept. 13, in the North Building’s Moore Auditorium.

On the Danforth Campus, students can participate in a zombie-themed scavenger hunt beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14. Participants can pick up entry forms at the Clocktower on the South 40 area of campus and then will be directed to tables across campus to collect items to make an emergency preparedness kit. After the hunt, there will be a prize drawing and zombie costume contest, followed by a screening of “Zombieland” on the Swamp. Prizes include Amazon Echo dots, gift cards and more.

“Preparing for an emergency isn’t a comfortable topic for most people, but it is extremely important,” Emergency Management Director Ty Davisson said. “We don’t like to think about all of the ‘what ifs’ of a disaster, but if we don’t, we won’t be ready when an emergency occurs. The idea of Ready Week is to make our campus more resilient to disasters and emergencies by showing our faculty, staff and students that preparedness can be simple and approachable.”

Ready Week focuses on four simple steps to preparedness: Tune in, learn more, look around and take action. Each encompasses quick and easy tips that lead to an increased level of preparedness. For additional information and the full schedule of events, visit emergency.wustl.edu/ready-week.

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