Emergency Communication

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Emergency Communication School Vertex Radios
Dr. Colin Sprigg Tim Catlin Rafael Waites
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• On November 13th, Schools in the ABC Unified
  District along with districts across Southern
  California, will participate in a Disaster Drill
  called The Great Southern California Shake Out

For the purpose of this drill ABC Unified will
simulate power, water, cell phone and land line
disruptions.
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• EARTHQUAKE DRILL
• Procedures

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Drill Initiation

• At approximately 10 AM the district Drill Officer
  will send a simultaneous broadcast to each
  schools emergency monitoring station to simulate
  the earthquake.

For Earthquake sound effects you can play over
your PA System go to this link
http//www.shakeout.org/drill/broadcast.html
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In most emergency situations within our schools
the Phone System, Cell Phones, Fax Machines and
Blackberries should still be operable.However,
this drill simulates a 7.4 earthquake which
causes major damage to our infrastructure. We
will not utilize these resources during this
earthquake simulation. We will utilize our school
and district Vertex emergency radios.
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• The district office and each school will
  conduct a Drop, Cover and Hold exercise lasting
  for two minutes.

2 minutes is the estimated time of shaking from a
7.2 quakes
For Earthquake sound effects you can play over
your PA System go to this link
http//www.shakeout.org/drill/broadcast.html
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• DROP to the ground
• COVER under a sturdy desk or table.
• HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops.

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Evacuate and Activate EOP

• After earthquake, Evacuate staff and students
• Activate you schools EOP (Emergency Operations
  Plan)

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Vertex Radio - Channels 2 and 3 Communications

• The Incident Command must have one Vertex Radio
  tuned to the District Wide Emergency Channel 3 at
  all times.
• All schools in-house communications (i.e.
  school search and rescue, medical teams and
  custodians, etc.) must be on Vertex radio Channel
  2, or on another in-house network of hand-held
  radios.

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Vertex Radio Channels 2 and 3 Communications

• Immediately after quake
• Incident Command - Tune Vertex Radio to Channel
  3
• Only one radio should dedicated to communicate
  with the District  Channel 3 must remain open for
  use during District wide emergencies. The
  Incident Commanders (or designee) should be the
  schools only point of contact to the District
  EOC. School information and situation reports
  need to be conveyed accurately, avoids duplicate
  transmissions and confusion. The PIO (Public
  Info Offer) may play a role here.
• 2. Other SEMS Support Staff using Vertex radios
  communicate on Channel 2. (Search and Rescue,
  Medical, Attendance, Student Release, etc..)
  should communicate on Channel 2, or other
  in-house network of handheld radios.
• 3. District (non school staff) CERT or SR Teams
  using vertex radios communicate on channel 16
• Channel 3 - District Emergency Channel ALL
  School Have the same channel 3
• Channel 2 - Private Campus communication
  (within specific campus)
• Channel 16 Open Campus Communications (between
  campuses)

PRINT THIS PAGE AND POST NEAR VERTEX EMERGENCY
RADIOS
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ABC Unified School Vertex Radio Channels
The following represent the basic ABC Unified
preset channel configuration for School Vertex
Radios   CH 1  -  Long range , Only radios
programmed with the district and  school code
will be able to hear the broadcast.  Ch 2   -
 Normal on campus communication.  Only on-site
school staff can hear transmissions. Signal is
not  relayed by the repeater. This channel should
be used by schools SEM staff. Ch 3  -
Emergency Long Range Channel ,  All ABCUSD Vertex
radios are programmed to communicate to district
with signal relayed by the repeater (power boost
located at M and O).  This channel will be used
during District wide emergencies. Only the IC
will communicate to District via channel 3 in the
event of emergency. CH - 16   Mixed use
 Channel. Does not require or utilize repeater
resources and allows for non-school staff or
mixed schools to communicate with each other.
Typical use is for mixed school  communications
 during sporting events  or inter-school events
which requires radios from various sources within
the ABC District to communicate with one
another. 
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Communications Protocol

• School Incident Commanders (or designee) will
  tune their vertex radios to channel 3 and listen
  for instructions from the District EOC. Do not
  attempt to contact the district EOC. Use this
  time to obtain information about the status of
  your students and campus from the IC as he/she
  receives reports from campus SR or CERT Teams.
  
• District EOC will immediately roll call each
  school to establish 1st contact and will
  frequently poll schools for updates to status
  reports. Please resist the urge to contact the
  district.
• District PIO will be the only liaison to provide
  information to Outside Agencies, Police, Fire,
  News media, etc. This ensures quality and
  accurate information being released. The PIO
  works with Incident Commanders to craft external
  messages.

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Status Report

• The District EOC will roll call for status
  reports.
• Only the IC (or designee) for each school should
  respond. PIOs may be utilized working in tandem
  with Incident Commander.
• Use plain language..