By Amanda Mayberry
As a result of the new F7 building being opened this semester, a new evacuation plan is now required for East Los Angeles College. And with this new evacuation plan comes a new emergency team.
The ELAC Emergency Team is made up of faculty and staff and is divided into two parts, the evacuation team and the emergency team. Faculty members are asked to volunteer and all those interested in volunteering are asked to contact Susan Okawa at extension 8669. Okawa is the assistant to Vice President of Administrative Services Tom Furukawa.
The evacuation team consists of zone marshals and building marshals. The zone marshals are in charge of a zone as a whole.
The building marshals are divided into floor marshals who are in charge of building floors individually. The emergency team is for taking care of any possible injuries and consists of members of administration. In the event of a real emergency, team members will be wearing an orange safety vest to make them identifiable to students, as well as to staff members.
“Every time a new building is opened, the evacuation zones change and the whole evacuation plan must be reconfigured,” said Okawa of the new evacuation plan. Okawa went on to explain that with every new evacuation plan, new marshals are needed.
“For example, teachers may end up in new classrooms on the other side of campus and so they would have to learn that new zone,” said Okawa.
She also explained that when a new building opens new marshals have to be assigned to those buildings. Okawa stated that the new evacuation plan is not yet complete.
She said the new zones are not yet finalized and volunteers are still needed, but she hopes everything will be done in time for the “Great Shake,” on October 20th.
The “Great California Shakeout,” otherwise known as the “Great Shake,” is a statewide earthquake drill. The state of California asks that all offices, schools, businesses participate in the drill.
“With this new evacuation plan we’re not ready for an actual earthquake drill, but by the time of the ‘Great Shake’ we’ll at least be ready for an evacuation drill,” said Okawa.
Okawa said she hopes students will participate in the drill. She asks that students be aware of the emergency evacuation plan so that in the event of a real emergency, students can be properly prepared.
“Students should be aware of evacuation zones. A successful evacuation takes the cooperation of everyone, and that’s all we can ask,” said Okawa.
